Targeted advertisement using television delivery systems

ABSTRACT

A novel multiple channel architecture is designed to allow targeted advertising directed to television terminals connected to an operations center or a cable headend. Program channels carry television programs. During commercial breaks in the television programs, advertisements, which are also broadcast on the program channel, are displayed. However, additional feeder channels carry alternate advertising that may be better suited for certain viewing audiences. The operations center or the cable headend generate a group assignment plan that assigns the television terminals to groups, based on factors such as area of dominant influence and household income. A switching plan is then generated that instructs the television terminals to remain with the program channel or to switch to one of the alternate feeder channels during the program breaks. The television terminals record which channels were viewed during the program breaks, and report this information to the cable headends and the operations center. The reported information is used to generate billing for commercial advertisers, and to analyze viewer watching habits. The invention uses upstream data reception hardware, databases and processing hardware and software to accomplish these functions.

This application is a continuation-in-part of application Ser. No.08/735,549 filed Dec. 9, 1996 entitled NETWORK CONTROLLER FOR CABLETELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS, which is a continuation of Ser. No.08/160,280 titled NETWORK CONTROLLER FOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERYSYSTEM, filed on Dec. 2, 1993, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,600,364 which was acontinuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 07/991,074 filed Dec. 9,1992 entitled TELEVISION PROGRAM PACKAGING AND DELIVERY SYSTEM WITH MENUDRIVEN SUBSCRIBER ACCESS. The following other continuation-in-partapplications, also based on the above-referenced patent application Ser.No. 07/991,074, are incorporated herein by reference:

PCT/US93/11708 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,281, entitled REPROGRAMMABLETERMINAL FOR SUGGESTING PROGRAMS OFFERED ON A TELEVISION PROGRAMDELIVERY SYSTEM filed Dec. 2, 1993;

PCT/US93/11616 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,280, entitled NETWORK CONTROLLERFOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS filed Dec. 2, 1993;

PCT/US93/11617 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,282, entitled AN OPERATIONSCENTER FOR A TELEVISION PROGRAM PACKAGING AND DELIVERY SYSTEM;

PCT/US93/11618 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,193, entitled SET-TOP TERMINALFOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS filed Dec. 2, 1993;

PCT/US93/11606 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,194, entitled ADVANCED SET-TOPTERMINAL FOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS filed Dec. 2, 1993;

PCT/US93/11615 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,283, entitled DIGITAL CABLEHEADEND FOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEM filed Dec. 2, 1993;

PCT/US93/11706 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/160,191, entitled TELEVISION PROGRAMDELIVERY SYSTEM filed Dec. 2, 1993;

U.S. Ser. No. 08/336,247, entitled ELECTRONIC BOOK SELECTION ANDDELIVERY SYSTEM, filed Nov. 7, 1994;

PCT/US94/13809 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/352,204, entitled AN OPERATIONSCENTER WITH VIDEO STORAGE FOR A TELEVISION PROGRAM PACKAGING ANDDELIVERY SYSTEM, filed Dec. 2, 1994; and

PCT/US94/13847 and U.S. Ser. No. 08/352,205, entitled NETWORK MANAGERFOR CABLE TELEVISION SYSTEM HEADENDS, filed Dec. 2, 1994.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to television entertainment systems for providingtelevision programming to consumer homes. More particularly, theinvention relates to a method and apparatus for targeting advertisementsto consumer's homes including monitoring, controlling and managing atelevision program delivery network from an operations center or a cableheadend.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Advances in television entertainment have been primarily driven bybreakthroughs in technology. In 1939, advances on Vladmir Zworykin'spicture tube provided the stimulus for NBC to begin its first regularbroadcasts. In 1975, advances in satellite technology provided consumerswith increased programming to homes.

Many of these technology breakthroughs have produced inconvenientsystems for consumers. One example is the ubiquitous three remotecontrol home, having a separate and unique remote control for the TV,cable box and VCR. More recently, technology has provided cable users incertain parts of the country with 100 channels of programming. Thisincreased program capacity is beyond the ability of many consumers touse effectively. No method of managing the program choices has beenprovided to consumers.

Consumers are demanding that future advances in televisionentertainment, particularly programs and program choices, be presentedto the consumer in a user friendly manner. Consumer preferences, insteadof technological breakthroughs, will drive the television entertainmentmarket for at least the next 20 years. As computer vendors haveexperienced a switch from marketing new technology in computer hardwareto marketing better usability, interfaces and service, the televisionentertainment industry will also experience a switch from new technologydriving the market to consumer usability driving the market.

Consumers want products incorporating new technology that are useful,and will no longer purchase new technology for the sake of novelty orstatus. Technological advances in sophisticated hardware are beginningto surpass the capability of the average consumer to use the newtechnology. Careful engineering must be done to make entertainmentproducts incorporating new technology useful and desired by consumers.

In order for new television entertainment products to be successful, theproducts must satisfy consumer demands. TV consumers wish to go fromlimited viewing choices to a variety of choices, from no control ofprogramming to complete control. Consumers wish to advance fromcumbersome and inconvenient television to easy and convenient televisionand keep costs down. Consumers do not wish to pay for one hundredchannels when due to lack of programming information, they seldom, ifever, watch programming on many of these channels. Viewers wish theirprogramming to be customized and targeted to their needs and tastes.

The concepts of interactive television, high definition television and300 channel cable systems in consumer homes will not sell if they arenot packaged, delivered and presented in a useable fashion to consumers.Consumers are already being bombarded with programming options, numerous“free” cable channels, subscription cable channels and pay-per-viewchoices. Any further increase in TV entertainment choices, without auser friendly presentation and approach, will likely bewilder viewerswith a mind-numbing array of choices.

The TV industry has traditionally marketed and sold its programs toconsumers in bulk, such as continuous feed broadcast and long-termsubscriptions to movie channels. The TV industry is unable to sell itsprogramming in large quantities on a unit per unit basis, such as theordering of one program. Consumers prefer a unit sales approach becauseit keeps costs down and allows the consumer to be more selective intheir viewing.

In today's television world, networks manage the program lineup forindividual channels. Each network analyzes ratings for television showsand determines the appropriate schedule or program lineup to gain marketshare and revenue from advertising. Program ratings are determined usinga test group of viewers and statistical analysis methods. Since eachchannel is in competition with every other channel, there is nocoordinated effort to organize television programming in a manner thatprimarily suits the viewers.

Advertising has become equally annoying, with viewers being “forced” towatch television commercials for goods and services that are neitherneeded nor desired. As a result, consumers have become impatient anddissatisfied with today's television delivery systems. Equallyproblematic, these television delivery systems do not have thecapabilities or features necessary to operate in the digitalenvironment. Consequently, advances in digital technology call for a newtelevision program delivery system that is capable of satisfying varyingconsumer and viewer needs.

Advertisers want to optimize their advertising expenditures by ensuringthat specific advertisements are directed to the appropriate audiences.Specifically, advertisers want specific advertisements to air duringtelevision programming that is being viewed by those individuals mostlikely to be influenced to buy the advertised product, or otherwiserespond in a desired fashion to the advertisement.

Existing cable headends are unequipped for the transition to a digitalsystem. These cable headends have no means for monitoring andcontrolling the large numbers of program signals and advertisements thatwill eventually be passed on to both consumers and viewers. These cableheadends are unequipped to manage account and billing information forset top terminals without relying on telephone lines. In addition, thesecable headends have no means for targeting advertisements to particularconsumers and viewers.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

The present invention is a system and a method for delivering targetedadvertisements in a television network. In particular, a programcontroller, or central processing unit, monitors and controls televisionterminals in a television delivery system. The program controller is akey component of a digital television delivery system. The programcontroller of the present invention provides much greater capability andflexibility than existing television network controllers such as cableheadend control equipment.

The program controller of a preferred embodiment performs all itsnetwork monitoring and control of television terminals at a centraloperations center. The operations center receives analog and digitalprogram signals and processes the signals to produce digitallycompressed program signals that are then relayed to intermediate sitessuch as cable headend sites or are transmitted directly to thetelevision terminals. Each cable headend site is equipped with multiplesatellite receiver dishes and a signal processor.

The primary function of the program controller is to manage theconfiguration of television terminals, control the broadcast of programsignals to the television terminals and process signals received fromthe television terminals. In the preferred embodiment, the programcontroller monitors, among other things, automatic poll-back responsesfrom the television terminals remotely located at each subscribers'home. The polling and automatic report-back cycle occurs frequentlyenough to allow the program controller to maintain accurate account andbilling information, retrieve programs watched data and monitorauthorized channel access.

In the one embodiment, information sent from the program controller isstored in RAM within each subscriber's television terminal and will beretrieved only upon polling by the program controller. Retrieval may,for example, occur on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The programcontroller allows the television delivery system to maintain completeinformation on all programs watched using a particular televisionterminal. The program controller may also send program data to thetelevision terminal for temporary storage. Thus, the televisionterminals may store targeted advertisements that are to be played duringprogram breaks for programs airing in the next 24 hours, or in the nextweek, for example.

A television terminal data gathering routine allows the programcontroller to schedule and perform polling of all television terminalsoperating in the system. The software also provides the programcontroller with a means of processing status reports received fromtelevision terminals in response to polling requests.

A video targeting routine makes use of a viewer's demographicinformation and viewing habits to determine those advertisements thatmay be most effective when displayed to that particular viewer. In sodoing, the routine generates packages of advertisements targeted towardseach viewer, or to groups of viewers.

Finally, an additional routine correlates the programs accessed withpricing information to generate billing reports that can be sent to agiven television terminal over the cable distribution network. Asidefrom this routine, the program controller accommodates other methods ofbilling and account maintenance, such as through the use of remotebilling sites.

To efficiently convey targeted advertisements to a desired audience, theoperations center may employ a multiple channel architecture thatincludes a program channel and a number of feeder channels to carryalternate programming, such as alternate targeted advertisements. Theprogram channel carries a main program, such as a broadcast televisionshow, and accompanying advertisements. The feeder channels are ancillaryvideo/audio channels, which are delivered to the television terminal,and which provide primarily alternate commercial and promotionalinterstitial material during breaks in the main program. The concept oftargeted advertising makes use of the feeder channels to allow thetelevision terminals to remain at the program channel or to be switchedto the most appropriate feeder channel at the program break, withappropriateness being based on information known about the demographicsand viewing habits of users of the television terminals, for example.

Careful management of the feeder channels, including their dynamicswitching, and control of the advertising airing on the feeder channelsat any given time can greatly increase both the advertisers' likelihoodof reaching an interested viewer, as well as the likelihood a viewer isinterested in a specific advertisement. The feeder channels are assigneda series of advertisements, and a switching plan is developed thatdirects individual television terminals to remain at the program channelor to switch from the program channel to a specific feeder channel uponthe occurrence of the program break.

The process of managing the program and the feeder channels begins witha number of configuration and set-up steps. First, individual televisionterminal address information is collected at an operations center, whichmay be a cable headend site or other central control station. Thisinformation is required to uniquely identify each television terminaland to associate with that identifier necessary information to aid inthe targeting process. The television terminal address information maybe provided to the operations center upon installation or activation ofthe television terminal in the viewer's home. Other information may becollected from various sources, including viewer surveys, marketingdatabases correlated by address or zip code+4, for example.

Next, television terminal groups are determined. This is needed if themanagement of information and targeting to individual televisionterminals is not practical initially, either due to non-availability ofinformation to the appropriate level of detail, or technology to controland deliver messages and advertisements to an individual televisionterminal. For a number of target criteria, individual groups aredefined. Examples of target criteria include demographic targeting(age/sex/income) and location, such as Area of Dominant Influence (ADI).Each target criteria is then segmented into appropriate groups. Forexample, the ADI may include Los Angles, Calif. and Washington D.C. Newtarget criteria can be added and the groups redefined after theirinitial establishment.

For each target criteria, each television terminal is assigned to agroup based on the information collected about the television terminal'senvironment. Once the television terminals are assigned to groups, theirgroup assignments are conveyed to the television terminal and storedtherein.

The group assignment information that is stored at the televisionterminal is able to survive power cycling of the television terminal,and other normal service interruptions. Finally, as groups are modifiedor group assignments change, the television terminals are notified ofthe changes. Additionally, the group assignment information isperiodically resent to the television terminals to ensure that newlyadded television terminals and those that have accidentally lost theirinformation are up-to-date.

Since the available feeder channels may be shared across several programchannels, their allocation must be managed and optimized. A breakmanagement engine determines how many feeder channels are available foreach program break. Furthermore, each program break may contain one ormore “pods” during which a “commercial spot” or targeted advertisementmay be aired. At a minimum, one commercial spot will be available foreach pod in a program break (i.e., the spot airing on the same channelas the program). However, the maximum number of spots available for agiven program break will depend on the total number of feeder channelsavailable and the alignment of program breaks across all programchannels. For some programming, the occurrence of program breaks cannotbe predicted in advance of programming airing (e.g., live sportsbroadcasts). However, for replayed programming, the occurrence ofprogram breaks will be known. Furthermore, some programming may bemanually edited to insert program breaks at appropriate intervals. Themanual placement of program breaks during the program edit process canbe used to force program breaks to line up or be staggered acrossprogram channels, permitting more predictable program break placements,as necessary.

A spot placement engine determines the optimum types of spots to beplaced based on program break timing and feeder channel availability.The output of the spot placement engine includes an ad playbill that isused at the operations center to schedule the commercial spots. The spotplacement engine takes into account likely viewers of a program, thedesirability of available spots to those viewers, targeting criteria,and the number of feeder channels available for each program break. Thespot being placed on the program channel during the program break servesas the default targeted advertisement (most appropriate to the overallaudience) in case the feeder channels are not available for alternatetargeted advertising. The default targeted advertisement also supportscable systems that either are not configured to provide targetedadvertising, or those cable systems that are receiving otherprogramming.

Once specific spots are selected for each program break, the televisionterminal groups that should remain with the program channel, and thosethat should tune to a particular feeder channel at each program breakare determined, based on target criteria of interest. Switching oftelevision terminals to the appropriate feeder channels may be conductedusing a detailed switching plan, for example. The switching plan isdistributed to control points in the system, such as cable headendsites, which are then responsible for the periodic transmission of theswitching plans to television terminals. Alternately, the switchingplans are distributed directly to the television terminals from theoperations center.

After the television terminal receives and stores the switching plan,the television terminal will remain with the program channel or willtune to the appropriate feeder channel during the corresponding programbreak, if the television terminal is tuned to a program channel thatcarries programming that cooperates with the multiple channelarchitecture. The viewer may, at any time, override feeder channelswitching by selecting a non-cooperating program channel.

The television terminal will store information indicating that theswitch was made. The accumulated switching history information will becollected from the television terminal at a later time for reviewpurposes. For example, upon command from the control points, thetelevision terminal will provide the switching history data to a local(e.g., cable headend) or to a national site. The unique televisionterminal identification information may also be provided with thecollected data. As mechanisms become available to identify specificviewers in a household, the system will allow for individualidentification information to also be provided with collected data.Finally, upon collection of the television terminal switching historydata, the television delivery system will allow for the return of usedtelevision terminal memory space to the television terminals.

As noted above, the program controller interacts directly withtelevision terminals or with network controllers located at cableheadends. As an intermediary between the television terminals and theoperations center (or other remote site), the cable headend relies on anetwork controller to perform key cable system operations. Inparticular, the network controller accommodates regional programmingneeds by working with other cable headend components. The networkcontroller also performs the system control functions for the cablesystem. Thus, the network controller performs many functions similar tothe program controller.

The network controller is also able to respond to the immediate needs ofa television terminal, or a group of television terminals. The networkcontroller can modify a program signal received from the operationscenter before the program signal is transmitted to the televisionterminal. Therefore, the network controller enables the delivery systemto adapt to the specific requirements of individual television terminalswhen information on these requirements cannot be provided to theoperations center in advance. In other words, the network controller isable to perform “on the fly programming” changes. With this capability,the network controller can handle sophisticated local programming needssuch as interactive television services, split screen video, andselection of different foreign languages for the same video.

The network controller makes use of a number of software routines toperform its major functions. In one routine, the network controllermodifies the program control information so that changes and additionsin programming and advertisements can be accommodated. Such changes andadditions include television terminal access authorizations andde-authorizations, and placement of local targeted advertisements inprogram breaks.

In yet another alternate embodiment, all the functions of the programcontroller are performed locally at the cable headend sites. That is,all the functions of the program controller are carried out by thenetwork controller installed at the cable headend.

In the above embodiments, program signals are relayed to and informationis extracted from the television terminals. The television terminals maybe digital set top boxes that connect between a cable televisiondelivery system and a television. Alternately, the television terminalsmay be components of digital television satellite receivers. Finally,the television terminals may be incorporated into the circuitry of thetelevision, thereby eliminating the need for a separate control deviceattached to the television.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of the primary components of the television deliverysystem.

FIG. 2 is an overview of the television delivery system operations.

FIG. 2a is a block diagram of the marketing information routine.

FIG. 3 is a schematic of the operation of the primary components of thesystem.

FIG. 4 is a schematic of the primary components of the Computer AssistedPackaging System (CAP).

FIG. 4a is a diagram of a multiple channel architecture module.

FIG. 4b is a diagram of a configuration set-up system.

FIG. 4c is a diagram of an advertisement assignment module.

FIG. 4d is a diagram of a feeder channel architecture at a cableheadend.

FIG. 4e is a diagram of a set top terminal adapted for use with themultiple channel architecture module of FIG. 4a.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed schematic of the hardware of the operationscenter and CAP.

FIG. 6a is a chart of the program control information carried by theprogram control information signal.

FIG. 6b shows a bit-wise data format for program control information.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram showing a Delivery Control Processor Unit anda Computer Assisted Packaging Apparatus.

FIG. 8 is a schematic of the subroutines for the CAP software.

FIG. 9 is a software flowchart representing CAP operations.

FIG. 10 is a diagram of the database structure for the databasessupporting the operations of the CAP.

FIG. 11 is a block diagram of the operations center and Master ControlSite.

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of the computer assisted packaging shown inFIG. 11.

FIG. 13 is a flow chart of the processing occurring at the operationscenter.

FIG. 14 is a diagram of the bandwidth allocation for a 750 MHZ system.

FIG. 15 is a diagram/chart of the compressed channel allocation for thesystem.

FIG. 16 is a diagram showing how three cable television systems eachwith a different bandwidth may use the program delivery system andoperations center of the present invention simultaneously.

FIG. 17 is a diagram showing three different cable headend systems, eachsystem receiving the entire satellite signal and stripping those partsof the signal which cannot be handled by the local cable system.

FIG. 18 is a diagram showing dynamic change in bandwidth allocation froma typical week day prime time program signal to a Saturday afternoonprogram signal.

FIG. 19 is a diagram of the primary components of the cable headend.

FIG. 20 is a diagram of the cable headend showing the primary componentsof the network controller.

FIG. 21a is a schematic of a basic cable headend having networkcontroller components.

FIG. 21b is a schematic of an alternative embodiment of FIG. 6a.

FIG. 22 is a detailed diagram of the components of the cable headend.

FIG. 23 is a diagram of the network controller CPU and its relationalcomponents.

FIG. 24 is diagram of the network control database structure.

FIG. 25 is a diagram of the relationship between the major softwareroutines.

FIG. 26 is a block diagram of the software flow chart for the PollingCycle routine.

FIG. 27 is a diagram of a sample programs watched matrix.

FIG. 28 is the software flow chart for the Alternate AdvertisementTargeting routine.

FIG. 29 is the subroutine flow chart for processing programs watchedmatrices through correlation algorithms.

FIG. 30 is the subroutine flow chart for determining final groupings ofset top terminals.

FIG. 31 is a diagram showing a sample assignment of advertising channelsto set top terminal groups watching particular categories of programs.

FIG. 32 is a diagram assigning available bandwidth for multipleadvertising channels.

FIG. 33 is a diagram of channel switching hardware.

FIG. 34 is a diagram of an alternate channel switching hardware.

FIG. 35 is a diagram of a television terminal incorporating two tuners.

FIG. 36 is the software flow chart for an alternative to the AlternateAdvertisement Targeting routine.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A. Television Program Delivery System Description

1. Introduction

FIG. 1 shows the present invention as part of an expanded televisionprogram delivery system 200 that dramatically increases programmingcapacity using compressed transmission of television program andtargeted advertisement signals. Developments in digital bandwidthcompression technology now allow much greater throughput of televisionprogram signals over existing or slightly modified transmission media.The program delivery system 200 shown provides subscribers with a userfriendly interface to operate and exploit a six-fold or more increase incurrent program delivery capability.

Subscribers are able to access an expanded television program packageand view selected programs through a menu-driven access scheme thatallows each subscriber to select individual programs by sequencing aseries of menus. The menus are sequenced by the subscriber using simplealpha-numeric and iconic character access or moving a cursor orhighlight bar on the TV screen to access desired programs by simplypressing a single button, rather than recalling from memory and pressingthe actual two or more digit numeric number assigned to a selection.Thus, with the press of a single button, the subscriber can advance fromone menu to the next. In this fashion, the subscriber can sequence themenus and select a program from any given menu. The programs are groupedby category so that similar program offerings are found on the samemenu.

2. Major System Components

In an embodiment, a program delivery system 200, in conjunction with aconventional concatenated cable television system 210, providestelevision program and control signals to subscribers. The programdelivery system 200 generally includes (i) at least one operationscenter 202, where program packaging and control information are createdand then assembled in the form of digital data, (ii) a digitalcompression system, where the digital data is compressed,combined/multiplexed, encoded, and mapped into digital signals forsatellite transmission to the cable headend 208, and (iii) a set ofin-home decompressors that are components of a television terminal. Theprogram delivery system 200 transports the digital signals to a cableheadend 208 where the signals are transmitted through a concatenatedcable television system 210. Within the cable headend 208, the receivedsignals may be decoded, demultiplexed, managed by a local centraldistribution and switching mechanism, combined and then transmitted tothe television terminal located in each subscriber's home over the cablesystem 210. Although concatenated cable systems 210 are the mostprevalent transmission media to the home, telephone lines, cellularnetworks, fiber optics, Personal Communication Networks and similartechnology for transmitting to the home can be used interchangeably withthis program delivery system 200.

The program delivery system 200 can also communicate with subscribersusing a telecommunications system 100 and an Internet 120. Thetelecommunications system 100 communicates using modems located at theoperations center 202, the cable headend 208 and at the subscribers'homes, for example. Alternately, the telecommunications system mayconnect directly to the television terminal. The Internet 120 may alsobe directly connected to the television terminal, or may be connected toa separate processor (such as a personal computer, not shown), which inturn connects to the television terminal.

In another embodiment, the functions of the operations center 202 andthe cable headend 208 may be combined. In this embodiment, theoperations center 202 may provide program signals directly to thetelevision terminal using either the cable delivery system 210 or adigital satellite delivery system.

The delivery system 200 has a reception region 207 with an in-homedecompression capability. This capability is performed by a decompressorhoused within the television terminal. In an embodiment, the televisionterminal is a set top terminal 220 that is installed in eachsubscriber's home. Alternately, the television terminal may be acomponent of a satellite receiver, or may be incorporated into thecircuitry of the television itself. The discussion that follows willrefer to the set top terminal 220. However, it should be understood thatany of the television terminals listed above could perform the samefunctions as the set top terminal 220. The decompressor remainstransparent from the subscriber's point of view and allows any of thecompressed signals to be demultiplexed and individually extracted fromthe composite data stream and then individually decompressed uponselection by the subscriber. The decompressed video signals areconverted into analog signals for television display. Such analogsignals include NTSC formatted signals for use by a standard television.Alternately, the digital program signals may be stored in a randomaccess memory (RAM) in the television terminal for later conversion anddisplay. Control signals are likewise extracted and decompressed andthen either executed immediately or placed in local storage such as theRAM. Multiple sets of decompression hardware may be used to decompressvideo and control signals. The set top terminal 220 may then overlay orcombine different signals to form the desired display on thesubscriber's television. Graphics on video or picture-on-picture areexamples of such a display.

Although a single digital compression standard (e.g., MPEG) may be usedfor both the program delivery system 200 and the concatenated cablesystem 210, the compression technique used may differ between the twosystems. When the compression standards differ between the two media,the signals received by the cable headend 208 must be decompressedbefore transmission from the headend 208 to the set top terminals 220.Subsequently, the cable headend 208 must recompress and transmit thesignals to the set top terminal 220, which would then decompress thesignals using a specific decompression algorithm.

The video signals and program control signals received by the set topterminal 220 correspond to specific television programs and menuselections that each subscriber may access through a subscriberinterface. The subscriber interface is a device with buttons located onthe set top terminal 220 or on a portable remote control 900. In thepreferred system embodiment, the subscriber interface is a combinedalpha-character, numeric and iconic remote control device 900, whichprovides direct or menu-driven program access. The preferred subscriberinterface also contains cursor movement and go buttons as well as alpha,numeric and iconic buttons. This subscriber interface and menuarrangement enables the subscriber to sequence through menus by choosingfrom among several menu options that are displayed on the televisionscreen. In addition, a user may bypass several menu screens andimmediately choose a program by selecting the appropriatealpha-character, numeric or iconic combinations on the subscriberinterface. In the preferred embodiment, the set top terminal 220generates the menus that are displayed on the television by creatingarrays of particular menu templates, and the set top terminal 220displays a specific menu or submenu option for each available videosignal.

3. Operations Center and Digital Compression System

The operations center 202 performs two primary services, packagingtelevision programs, and advertisements, and generating the programcontrol information signal. At the operations center 202, televisionprograms and advertisements are received from external program sourcesin both analog and digital form. FIG. 2 shows an embodiment of theoperations center receiving signals from various external sources 212.Examples of the external program sources are sporting events, children'sprograms, specialty channels, news or any other program source that canprovide audio or visual signals. Advertisements are provided byindividual advertisers and include commercials, infomercials andpromotions that may air during or between airing of television programs.Once the television programs and advertisements are received from theexternal program sources and from the advertisers, the operations center202 digitizes (and preferably compresses) any program signals receivedin analog form. The operations center 202 may also maintain an internalstorage of programs. The internally stored programs may be in analog ordigital form and stored on permanent or volatile memory sources,including magnetic tape or RAM. Subsequent to receiving programming, theoperations center 202 packages the programs into the groups andcategories which provide the optimal marketing of the programs tosubscribers. For example, the operations center 202 may package the sameprograms into different categories and menus for weekday, prime-timeviewing and Saturday afternoon viewing. Also, the operations center 202packages the television programs in a manner that enables both thevarious menus to easily represent the programs and the subscribers toeasily access the programs through the menus.

The packaging of the digital signals is typically performed at theoperations center 202 by computer assisted packaging equipment (CAP).The CAP system normally includes at least one computer monitor,keyboard, mouse, and standard video editing equipment. A programmerpackages the signals by entering certain information into the CAP. Thisinformation includes the date, time slot, and program category of thevarious programs. The programmer and the CAP utilize demographic dataand ratings in performing the packaging tasks. Extracts of customerpurchases will be provided to the Operations Center 202. These extractsof information will be formatted and correlated with customerdemographics for marketing purposes by the Marketing InformationInterface (MII) 702. The MII 702 is shown in FIG. 2a. The MarketingInformation Interface (MII) 702 subroutine interfaces the processing andediting subroutines with marketing data. This interface regularlyreceives programs watched information from billing sites 720, cableheadends 208, or set top terminals 220. In addition, other marketinginformation 722 such as the demographics of viewers during certain timeperiods may be received by the MII 702. The MII 702 also uses algorithms724 to analyze the program watched information and marketing data 720,722, and provides the analyzed information to the processing and editingsubroutines.

The process program line-up subroutine 730 uses information from the MII704 and Packager Data Entry Interface (PDEI) 700 to develop a programline-up. Algorithms are used to assign programs in time slots.

The operations center 202 may also “insert” directions for filling localavailable program time in the packaged signal to enable local cable andtelevision companies to fill the program time with local advertisingand/or local programming. Consequently, the local cable headends are notconstrained to show only programs transmitted from the operations center202. After the programmer selects the various programs from a pool ofavailable programs and inputs the requisite information, the programmer,with assistance from the CAP, can select the price and allocatetransponder space for the various programs. After the process iscomplete, the CAP displays draft menus or program schedules thatcorrespond to the entries of the programmer. The CAP may alsographically display allocation of transponder space. The programmer mayedit the menus and transponder allocation several times until satisfiedwith the programming schedule. During the editing, the programmer maydirect the exact location of any program name on a menu with simplecommands to the CAP. The CAP may be used to package advertisements,although the process, which will be described later, may differ fromthat used for television programs.

The packaging process also accounts for any groupings by satellitetransponder which are necessary. The operations center 202 may senddifferent groups of programs to different cable headends 208 and/or settop terminals 220. One way the operations center 202 may accomplish thistask is to send different program packages to each transponder. Eachtransponder, or set of transponders, then relays a specific programpackage to specific cable headends 208 and/or set top terminals 220. Theallocation of transponder space is an important task performed by theoperations center 202.

The operations center 202 may also “insert” directions for filling localavailable program time in the packaged signal to enable local cable andtelevision companies to fill the program time with local advertisingand/or local programming. Consequently, the local cable headends 208 arenot constrained to show only programs transmitted from the operationscenter 202. New set top converters will incorporate both digital andanalog channels. Therefore, the cable headend 208 may combine analogsignals with the digital signals prior to transmitting the programsignals to the set top terminals 220.

After the CAP packages the programs, it creates a program controlinformation signal to be delivered with the program package to the cableheadend 208 and/or set top terminal 220. The program control informationsignal contains a description of the contents of the program package,commands to be sent to the cable headend 208 and/or set top terminal220, and other information relevant to the signal transmission.

In addition to packaging the signal, the operations center 202 employsdigital compression techniques to increase existing satellitetransponder capacity by at least a 4:1 ratio, resulting in a four-foldincrease in program delivery capability. A number of digital compressionalgorithms currently exist which can achieve the resultant increase incapacity and improved signal quality desired for the system. Thealgorithms generally use one or more of three basic digital compressiontechniques: (1) within-frame (intraframe) compression, (2)frame-to-frame (interframe) compression, and (3) within carriercompression. Specifically, in the preferred embodiment, the MPEG 2compression method is used. After digital compression, the signals arecombined (multiplexed) and encoded. The combined signal is subsequentlytransmitted to various uplink sites 204.

There may be a single uplink site 204 or multiple uplink sites(represented by 204′, shown in phantom in FIG. 1) for each operationcenter 202. The uplink sites 204 may either be located in the samegeographical place or may be located remotely from the operations center202. Once the composite signal is transmitted to the uplink sites 204,the signal may be multiplexed with other signals, modulated, upconverted and amplified for transmission over satellite. Multiple cableheadends 208 may receive such transmissions.

In addition to multiple uplinks, the delivery system 200 may alsocontain multiple operations centers. The preferred method for usingmultiple operations centers is to designate one of the operationscenters as a master operations center and to designate the remainingoperations centers as slave operations centers. In this configuration,the master operations center coordinates various functions among theslave operations centers such as synchronization of simultaneoustransmissions and distributes the operations workload efficiently.

4. Cable Headend

After the operations center 202 has compressed and encoded the programsignals and transmitted the signals to the satellite, the cable headend208 receives and further processes the signals before they are relayedto each set top terminal 220. Each cable headend site is generallyequipped with multiple satellite receiver dishes. Each dish is capableof handling multiple transponder signals from a single satellite andsometimes from multiple satellites.

With reference to FIG. 3, as an intermediary between the set topterminals 220 and the operations center 202 and master control uplinksite 211 (or other remote site), the cable headend 208 performs twoprimary functions. First, the cable headend 208 acts as a distributioncenter, or signal processor, by relaying the program signal to the settop terminal 220 in each subscriber's home. In addition, the cableheadend 208 acts as a network controller 214 by receiving informationfrom each set top terminal 220 and passing such information on to aninformation gathering site such as the operations center 202.

FIG. 3 shows an embodiment where the cable headend 208 and thesubscriber's home are linked by certain communications media 216. Inthis particular embodiment, analog signals, digitally compressedsignals, other digital signals and up-stream/interactivity signals aresent and received over the media 216. The cable headend 208 providessuch signaling capabilities in its dual roles as a signal processor 209and network controller 214.

As a signal processor 209, the cable headend 208 prepares the programsignals that are received by the cable headend 208 for transmission toeach set top terminal 220. In the preferred system, the signal processor209 re-routes or demultiplexes and recombines the signals and digitalinformation received from the operations center 202 and allocatesdifferent portions of the signal to different frequency ranges. Cableheadends 208 which offer different subscribers different programofferings may allocate the program signals from the operations center202 in various manners to accommodate different viewers. The signalprocessor 209 may also incorporate local programming and/or localadvertisements into the program signal and forward the revised signal tothe set top terminals 220. To accommodate this local programmingavailability, the signal processor 209 must combine the local signal indigital or analog form with the operations center program signals. Ifthe local cable system uses a compression standard that is differentthan the one used by the operations center 202, the signal processor 209must also decompress and recompress incoming signals so they may beproperly formatted for transmission to the set top terminals 220. Thisprocess becomes less important as standards develop (i.e., MPEG 2). Inaddition, the signal processor 209 performs any necessary signaldecryption and/or encryption.

As a network controller 214, the cable headend 208 performs the systemcontrol functions for the system. The primary function of the networkcontroller 214 is to manage the configuration of the set top terminals220 and process signals received from the set top terminals 220. In thepreferred embodiment, the network controller 214 monitors, among otherthings, automatic poll-back responses from the set top terminals 220remotely located at each subscribers' home. The polling and automaticreport-back cycle occurs frequently enough to allow the networkcontroller 214 to maintain accurate account and billing information aswell as monitor authorized channel access. In the simplest embodiment,information to be sent to the network controller 214 will be stored inRAM within each subscriber's set top terminal 220 and will be retrievedonly upon polling by the network controller 214. Retrieval may, forexample, occur on a daily, weekly or monthly basis. The networkcontroller 214 allows the system to maintain complete information on allprograms watched using a particular set top terminal 220.

The network controller 214 is also able to respond to the immediateneeds of a set top terminal 220 by modifying a program controlinformation signal received from the operations center 202. Therefore,the network controller 214 enables the delivery system to adapt to thespecific requirements of individual set top terminals 220 when therequirements cannot be provided to the operations center 202 in advance.In other words, the network controller 214 is able to perform “on thefly programming” changes. With this capability, the network controller214 can handle sophisticated local programming needs such as, forexample, interactive television services, split screen video, andselection of different foreign languages for the same video. Inaddition, the network controller 214 controls and monitors allcompressors and decompressors in the system.

The delivery system 200 and digital compression of the preferredembodiment provides a one-way path from the operations center 202 to thecable headend 208. Status and billing information is sent from the settop terminal 220 to the network controller 214 at the cable headend 208and not directly to the operations center 202. Thus, program monitoringand selection control will take place only at the cable headend 208 bythe local cable company and its decentralized network controllers 214(i.e., decentralized relative to the operations center 202, which iscentral to the program delivery system 200). The local cable companywill in turn be in communication with the operations center 202 or aregional control center (not shown) which accumulates return data fromthe set top terminal 220 for statistical or billing purposes. Inalternative system embodiments, the operations center 202 and thestatistical and billing sites are collocated. Further, telephone lineswith modems are used to transfer information from the set top terminal220 to the statistical and billing sites.

5. Set Top Terminal

The set top terminal 220 is the portion of the delivery system 200 thatresides in the home of a subscriber. As noted above, the functions ofthe set top terminal 220 may be incorporated into the television, sothat a separate component is not required to interact with the programdelivery system 200. Alternately, the functions of the set top terminalmay be incorporated into a satellite television receiver. When the settop terminal 220 is used, it is usually located above or below thesubscriber's television, but it may be placed anywhere in or near thesubscriber's home as long as it is within the range of the subscriber'sremote control device 900. In some aspects, the set top terminal 220 mayresemble converter boxes already used by many cable systems. Forinstance, each set top terminal 220 may include a variety of errordetection, decryption, and coding techniques such as anti-tapingencoding. However, it will become apparent from the discussion belowthat the set top terminal 220 is able to perform many functions that anordinary converter box cannot perform.

The set top terminal 220 has a plurality of input and output ports toenable it to communicate with other local and remote devices. The settop terminal 220 has an input port that receives information from thecable headend 208. In addition, the unit has at least two output portswhich provide communications from the set top terminal 220 to atelevision and a VCR. Certain menu selections may cause the set topterminal 220 to send control signals directly to the VCR toautomatically program or operate the VCR. Also, the set top terminal 220contains a phone jack which can be used for maintenance, troubleshooting, reprogramming and additional customer features. The set topterminal 220 may also contain stereo/audio output terminals and asatellite dish input port.

Functionally, the set top terminal 220 is the last component in thedelivery system chain. The set top terminal 220 receives compressedprogram and control signals from the cable headend 208 (or, in somecases, directly from the operations center 202). After the set topterminal 220 receives the individually compressed program and controlsignals, the signals are demultiplexed, decompressed, converted toanalog signals (if necessary) and either placed in local storage (fromwhich the menu template may be created), executed immediately, or sentdirectly to the television screen.

After processing certain signals received from the cable headend 208,the set top terminal 220 is able to store menu templates for creatingmenus that are displayed on a subscriber's television by using an arrayof menu templates. Before a menu can be constructed, menu templates mustbe created and sent to the set top terminal 220 for storage. Amicroprocessor uses the control signals received from the operationscenter 202 or cable headend 208 to generate the menu templates forstorage. Each menu template may be stored in volatile memory in the settop terminal 220. When the set top terminal receives templateinformation it demultiplexes the program control signals received fromthe cable headend 208 into four primary parts: video, graphics, programlogic and text. Each menu template represents a different portion of awhole menu, such as a menu background, television logo, cursor highlightoverlay, or other miscellaneous components needed to build a menu. Themenu templates may be deleted or altered using control signals receivedfrom the operations center 202 or cable headend 208.

Once the menu templates have been stored in memory, the set top terminal220 can generate the appropriate menus. In the preferred embodiment, thebasic menu format information is stored in memory located within the settop terminal 220 so that the microprocessor may locally access theinformation from the set top terminal instead of from an incomingsignal. The microprocessor next generates the appropriate menus from themenu templates and the other menu information stored in memory. The settop terminal 220 then displays specific menus on the subscriber'stelevision screen that correspond to the inputs the subscriber selects.

If the subscriber selects a specific program from a menu, the set topterminal 220 determines on which channel the program is being shown,demultiplexes and extracts the single channel transmitted from the cableheadend 208. The set top terminal 220 then decompresses the channel and,if necessary, converts the program signal to an analog NTSC signal toenable the subscriber to view the selected program. The set top terminal220 can be equipped to decompress more than one program signal, but thiswould unnecessarily add to the cost of the unit since a subscriber willgenerally only view one program at a time. However, two or threedecompressors may be desirable to provide picture-on-picture capability,control signal decompression, enhanced channel switching or likefeatures.

In addition to menu information, the set top terminal 220 may also storetext transmitted from the cable headend 208 or the operations center202. The text may inform the subscriber about upcoming events, billingand account status, new subscriptions, or other relevant information.The text will be stored in an appropriate memory location depending onthe frequency and the duration of the use of the textual message.Finally, the set top terminal 220 may store program signals, such astargeted advertisements, for later conversion and display.

Also, optional upgrades are available to enhance the performance of asubscriber's set top terminal 220. These upgrades may consist of acartridge or computer card (not shown) that is inserted into anexpansion slot in the set top terminal 220 or may consist of a featureoffered by the cable headend 208 or operations center 202 to which theuser may subscribe. Available upgrades may include on line data baseservices, interactive multi-media services, access to digital radiochannels, and other services.

In an embodiment, available converter boxes such as those manufacturedby General Instruments or Scientific Atlanta, may be modified andupgraded to perform the functions of a set top terminal 220. Thepreferred upgrade is a circuit card with a microprocessor which iselectronically connected to or inserted into the converter box.

6. Remote Control Device

The primary conduit for communication between the subscriber and the settop terminal 220 is through the subscriber interface, preferably aremote control device 900. Through this interface, the subscriber mayselect desired programming through the system's menu-driven scheme or bydirectly accessing a specific channel by entering the actual channelnumber. Using the interface, the subscriber can navigate through aseries of informative program selection menus. By using menu-driven,iconic or alpha-character access, the subscriber can access desiredprograms by simply pressing a single button rather than recalling frommemory and pressing the actual channel number to make a selection. Thesubscriber can access regular broadcast and basic cable televisionstations by using either the numeric keys on the remote control 900(pressing the corresponding channel number), or one of the menu iconselection options.

In addition to enabling the subscriber to easily interact with the cablesystem 200, the physical characteristics of the subscriber interface 900should also add to the user friendliness of the system. The remotecontrol 900 should easily fit in the palm of the user's hand. Thebuttons of the preferred remote control 900 contain pictorial symbolsthat are easily identifiable by the subscriber. Also, buttons thatperform similar functions may be color coordinated and consist ofdistinguishing textures to increase the user friendliness of the system.

7. Menu-Driven Program Selection

The menu-driven scheme provides the subscriber with one-step access toall major menus, ranging from hit movies to sport specials to specialtyprograms. From any of the major menus, the subscriber can in turn accesssubmenus and minor menus by cursor or alpha-character access.

There are two different types of menus utilized by the preferredembodiment, the Program Selection menus and the During Program menus.The first series of menus, Program Selection menus, consists of anIntroductory, a Home, Major menus, and Submenus. The second series ofmenus, During Program menus, consists of two primary types, Hidden menusand the Program Overlay menus.

Immediately after the subscriber turns on the set top terminal 220, theIntroductory menu welcomes the subscriber to the system. TheIntroductory menu may display important announcements from the localcable franchise, advertisements from the cable provider, or other typesof messages. In addition, the Introductory menu can inform thesubscriber if the cable headend 208 has sent a personal message to thesubscriber's particular set top terminal 220.

After the Introductory menu has been displayed the subscriber mayadvance to the next level of menus, namely the Home menu. In thepreferred embodiment, after a certain period of time, the cable systemwill advance the subscriber by default to the Home menu. From the Homemenu, the subscriber is able to access all of the programming options.The subscriber may either select a program directly by entering theappropriate channel number from the remote control 900, or thesubscriber may sequence through incremental levels of menu optionsstarting from the Home menu. The Home menu lists categories thatcorrespond to the first level of menus called Major menus.

If the subscriber chooses to sequence through subsequent menus, thesubscriber will be forwarded to the Major menu that corresponds to thechosen category from the Home menu. The Major menus further refine asubscriber's search and help guide the subscriber to the selection ofhis choice.

From the Major menus, the subscriber may access several submenus. Fromeach submenu, the subscriber may access other submenus until thesubscriber finds a desired television program. Similar to the Majormenu, each successive level of Submenus further refines the subscriber'ssearch. The system also enables the subscriber to skip certain menus orsubmenus and directly access a specific menu or television program byentering the appropriate commands on the remote control 900.

The During program menus (including Hidden Menus and Program OverlayMenus) are displayed by the set top terminal 220 only after thesubscriber has selected a television program. In order to avoiddisturbing the subscriber, the set top terminal 220 does not display theHidden Menus until the subscriber selects the appropriate option todisplay a Hidden Menu. The Hidden Menus contain options that arerelevant to the program selected by the viewer. For example, a HiddenMenu may contain options that enable a subscriber to enter aninteractive mode or escape from the selected program.

Program Overlay Menus are similar to Hidden Menus because they occurduring a program and are related to the program being viewed. However,the Program Overlay Menus are displayed concurrently with the programselected by the subscriber. Most Program Overlay Menus are small enoughon the screen to allow the subscriber to continue viewing the selectedprogram comfortably.

B. Operations Center with Computer Assisted Packaging System

FIG. 4 broadly shows the configuration for the computer assistedpackaging system (CAP) 260 of the operations center 202. The primarycomponents of the CAP 260 consist of multiple packager workstations 262,a central processing unit 264, a multiple channel architecture module265, video/audio editing equipment 266, and one or more databases 268and 269. Additional remotely located databases, such as local videostorage database 267, and buffers 271 and controllers 272 for externalprogram feeds make up the peripherals of the CAP system 260.

The heart of the CAP 260 is a central processing unit 264 whichcommunicates with all the component parts of the CAP 260. The centralprocessing unit 264 can be a powerful PC, a mini-computer, a mainframeor a combination of computing equipment running in parallel. The centralprocessing unit 264 includes all the necessary interconnections tocontrol peripheral equipment such as the external video controls 272.The central processing unit 264 has sufficient memory 274 to store theprogram instructions of the subroutines which operate the CAP 260.

The CAP 260 receives data from one or more databases, such as theoperations center Database 268 and the Cable Franchise InformationDatabase 269 shown in FIG. 4. In addition, separate databases aremaintained of viewer information, such as demographics and programsviewed. The CAP 260 can control the reception of external sources byenabling and disenabling the external video controls 272. The externalvideo controls 272 include buffers to delay as necessary externalprograms received by the operations center 202.

The multiple channel architecture module 265 allows the operationscenter 202 or the cable headends 208 to broadcast multiple programsignals to each of the set top terminals 220, with the set top terminals220 then determining which of the multiple channels to switch to, basedon a switching plan generated by the multiple channel architecturemodule 265, and a set top terminal assignment matrix generated by themultiple channel architecture module 265 and stored in the set topterminal 220. The use of multiple channels is particularly advantageouswhen targeting advertisements to different viewers. The construction andoperation of the multiple channel architecture module 265 will bedescribed in detail later with reference to FIGS. 4a-4 e.

The functions of the video/audio equipment 266 include digitizing analogprograms, digitizing and compressing analog programs (in a single step,e.g., MPEG), and compressing digital program signals as requested by thecentral processing unit 264.

The CAP 260 receives video and audio from two sources: internally from alocal video storage 267 and externally from external sources throughexternal video controls 272. When necessary, video is manipulated,formatted and/or digitized using video/audio equipment 266 which iscontrolled by CAP 264.

Referring back to FIG. 2, an overview of an operating cable televisionmenu driven program delivery system 200 highlighting various externalprogramming signal sources 212 is depicted. The operations center 202 isshown receiving external programming signals which correspond toparticular programming categories that are available for a subscriber'sviewing. These external signals may be in analog or digital form and maybe received via landline, microwave transmission, or satellite. Some ofthese external signals may be transmitted from the program source 212 tothe operations center 202 in compressed digital format or othernonstandard digital formats. These external signals are received andpackaged with programming that is stored at the operations center 202.

Examples of external program sources 212 shown in FIG. 2 are: Sportingevents, children's programs, documentaries, high definition TV sources,specialty channels, interactive services, weather, news, and othernonfiction or entertainment. Any source that can provide either audio orvideo or both may be utilized to provide programming to the operationscenter 202.

In order to achieve the required throughput of video and audioinformation for the system, digital compression techniques are employed.A television signal is first digitized. The object of digitization istwo-fold: First, in the case of an analog signal, like a televisionpicture, digitization allows the signal to be converted from a waveforminto a digital binary format. Secondly, through the use of digitalcompression techniques, standard digital formats are designed to havethe resulting pictures or video stills take up less space on theirrespective storage mediums. Essentially, as described below, a standarddigital format will define the method of compression used.

There are three basic digital compression techniques: within-frame(intraframe), frame-to-frame (interframne), and within-carrier.Intraframe compression processes each frame in a television picture tocontain fewer visual details and, therefore, the picture contains fewerdigital bits. Interframe compression transmits only changes betweenframes, thus omitting elements repeated in successive frames.Within-carrier compression allows the compression ratio to dynamicallyvary depending upon the amount of changes between frames. If a largenumber of changes occur between frames, the compression ratio dropsfrom, for example, sixteen-to-one to eight-to-one. If action is intense,the compression ratio may dip to four to one.

Several standard digital formats representing both digitizing standardsand compression standards have been developed. For example, JPEG (jointphotographic experts group) is a standard for single picturedigitization. Motion picture digitization may be represented bystandards such as MPEG or MPEG2 (motion picture engineering groupspecifications). Other proprietary standards have been developed inaddition to these. The preferred embodiment uses the MPEG-2 standard ofcoding and those of ordinary skill in the art are presumed to befamiliar with the MPEG-2 standard. The MPEG-2 Systems Working DraftProposal from the Systems Committee of the International OrganizationFor Standardization, document ISO/IE JT1/SC29/WG11 “N0531” MPEG93 datedSep. 10, 1993, is hereby incorporated by reference. Although MPEG andMPEG2 for motion pictures are preferred in the present invention, anyreliable digital format with compression may be used with the presentinvention.

Various hybrids of the above compression techniques have been developedby several companies including AT&T, Compression Labs, Inc., GeneralInstrument, Scientific-Atlanta, Phillips, and Zenith. As is known bythose skilled in the art, any of the compression techniques developed bythese companies, and other known techniques, may be used with thepresent invention.

With reference to FIG. 4, the human intervention in this system isconducted by a programmer or program packager operating from the one ormore work stations 262 connected to the system. These work stations 262are preferably intelligent work stations with large CRT screens. In thepreferred embodiment, a suitable keyboard, mouse and color monitor areused with the workstation. From these work stations, the packager cancreate program lineups, prioritize programs, initiate dynamic menuallocation, initiate dynamic bandwidth allocation, design menus, placeprogram names and descriptions onto menus, create menus with still andlive video, move text on menus, change the colors of objects on menusand perform various other tasks for the program delivery system 200.

Almost any operations center 202 function that normally requires humanintervention can be conducted at the packager workstation 262. Althoughdata entry for the databases can be performed manually at theworkstations 262, it is preferred that the data entry be completedthrough electronic transfers of information. Alternatively, the data canbe loaded from customary portable storage media such as magnetic disksor tape.

An integral part of the Computer Assisting Packaging system is theretrieval of viewer data, and the assimilation of that data into theprogram packaging method (especially the menu configuration) asdiscussed in reference to FIG. 8 MII 402. This involves two main steps,first, retrieval of raw data from the set top terminals, and thenfiltering and presenting that data. Each headend 208 compiles the viewerdata, and then sends it verbatim to the operations center 202.Alternately, the operations center 202 can collect the viewer datadirectly from the set top terminals 220. The raw data is necessarybecause different responsibilities of the operations center 202 requiredifferent parts of the raw information. Also a record must be kept ofoverall data. Once the raw data is assembled at the operations center202, the data is filtered for each application.

The raw data gathered includes but is not limited to:

What programs a viewer purchased and when it was purchased

What channel a specific viewer watched and for how long.

Which of the multiple channels the set top terminal 220 tuned to duringa program break.

Click stream data recorded during operation of the set top terminal 220.

This information can then be used to calculate the following:

How many viewers watched a particular program.

Which targeting group a viewer belongs to.

Peak viewing times for different categories of shows.

Buy rates for particular menu positions.

Rates charged to advertisers for their commercials.

Menu creation, both automatically and manually, is one of the major CAPfunctions that involves the incorporation of the raw data. An automatedsoftware procedure (such as the EIS) analyzes the data and, usingcertain heuristics, creates the menus.

One heuristic, for example, is that when a show is not orderedfrequently, it is moved closer to the top of the menu for greatervisibility. The filtering of the data allows it to be sorted and indexedfor display to the user. The program data can be filtered into a newdatabase containing program names and indexed by the number of timeseach program was purchased. The data can also be indexed by buy timesand program categories.

Certain metrics are established to help in evaluating the data. Usingthe EIS or similar software, sales by menu placement, cost, category andlifespan can be pulled up for viewing in graphic presentation. Thegraphic presentation, in the form of line or bar graphs, help thepackager recognize any trends in the data. For example, the first movieon a movie menu might not have sold as well as a second movie listed. Achart can be pulled up to reveal that the first movie has been at thetop of the menu for two weeks and buy rates are naturally falling off.Steps can then be taken to move items in the menus to correct this,though many of these steps are automated in the menu creation system.Suggested changes can be displayed to help the user in this task.

The automated procedures create menus that are distinct between headends208 because of demographic differences in the viewing audience. To helpwith this, a separate database of viewer demographics exists and isfrequently updated. The headends 208 are able to alter the menupositions in order to further tailor the presentation, or to add localshows and local targeted advertisements. Any changes to the menus aresent back to the operations center 202 at the same time as the viewerdata, in order to prevent erroneous data analysis. Menu changes at thecable headend are described in detail in co-pending patent applicationSer. No. 08/735,549, entitled Network Controller for a Cable TelevisionSystem, filed by the same assignee.

Another use for the indexed data is creation of marketing reports.Programming changes are helped by accurate information on viewerpreference. Also viewer purchasing trends, and regional interests can betracked.

In the preferred embodiment, an Executive Information System (EIS) isused to give high level access to both “buy” (what the customerpurchases) and “access” (when the product was viewed, how often andduration) data. The EIS represents information in both a graphical andsummary report format. “Drill down” functions in the EIS help thepackager derive the appropriate product (product refers to programs,events or services) mix.

The purpose of the EIS is to provide an on-line software tool that willallow for real-time evaluation of current product positioning. Thedesign of the system consists of user friendly icons to guide the userthrough available functions. The functionality in the system providesgeneral information on current programming sales status. By workingthrough the tiers in the system, the user has access to more specificinformation. The system is designed to shield the user from a longlearning curve and information overload.

The graphical tools allow for analysis of current data through the useof multiple graph types such as line graphs, bar and pie charts. Thesetools will allow the user to manipulate independent variables such astime (hour, day of the week, week, month), demographic information,program category information (genre, property, events), headendinformation and pricing information for determining the appropriateprogramming mix within the allotted time slots.

The system also allows the packager to derive expected monetary returnsthrough program line-ups by integrating outside industry databases. Forinstance, the system could be used to determine expected returns from aparticular program by correlating buy information from the existingprograms in the line up with a viewer ratings service database todetermine the outcome of programs within a particular genre not in thecurrent line up.

Report tools within the EIS aggregate buy access at the highest level.Due to the volume of available information statistical analysis methodsare used for deriving marketing intelligence within the EIS.

A yield management tool is incorporated within the EIS. The yieldmanagement tool encompasses operations research techniques, statisticalmethods and neural net technology to decide program mix as it pertainsto program substitutes, program complements, time slice positioning,repetitions and menu positioning.

This system is automated to the extent of providing viable alternativeas to the proposed product mix. The system encompasses a Monte Carlosimulation for developing alternative product mix scenarios. The systemfeeds from both internal data and external industry data sources toprovide expected revenue projections for the different scenarios. Othersoftware subroutines of the CAP will automatically call upon the EIS toassist the program in important decision making, such as menuconfiguration and transponder allocation. Human interaction is requiredto change marketing parameters for fine tuning the desired productscheduling.

Although the packaging of the program information and programs,including the creation of program control information, program lineupand menu designing configuration, is conducted at the CAP 260, all otherfunctions of the operations center 202 can be controlled by a secondseparate processing unit (shown in FIG. 5 at 270). This secondprocessing unit 270 is the Delivery Control Processing Unit 270, and canperform the tasks of incorporating the program control informationsignal from the CAP 260, coordinating the receipt and combining ofexternal program video/audio and internal video/audio and combining thesignals as necessary for transmission. This distribution of functionsamong the CAP 260 and Delivery Control Processing Unit 270 allows forgreater speed and ease of use.

FIG. 5 shows a more detailed diagram of the CAP 260 and the DeliveryControl Processor Unit 270. Once external and stored digital and analogsources have been converted into a standard digital format 274, they areinput into standard digital multiplex equipment 273 (of the typemanufactured by Scientific Atlanta, General Instruments, and others).Additionally, the Program Control Information Signal 276 is input intothe digital multiplex equipment 273. These inputs 274, 276 aremultiplexed appropriately under the control of the Delivery ControlProcessor Unit 270 as commanded by the CPU 264. The Delivery ControlProcessor Unit 270 is also responsible for the generation of the ProgramControl Information Signal 276 based on information received from theCPU 264. The Delivery Control Processor Unit 270 allows for theoff-loading of real-time and near real-time tasks from the CPU 264. TheCPU 264, as described earlier, processes information within its databaseand provides user access to the CAP 260 via multiple user workstations262

The high-speed digital output 278 from the digital multiplex equipment273 is then sent on to the compression (if necessary), multiplexing,modulation and amplification hardware, represented at 279.

C. The Program Control Information Signal

Table A is an example of some information that can be sent in theprogram control information signal to the set top terminals 220. Theprogram control information signal generated by the operations center202 provides data on the scheduling and description of programs via thenetwork controller 214 or, in an alternate configuration, directly tothe set top terminal 220 for display to the subscriber.

In the preferred embodiment, the program control information signal 276is stored and modified by the network controller 214 and sent to the settop terminal 220 in the form of a set top terminal control informationstream (STTCIS). This configuration accommodates differences inindividual cable systems and possible differences in set top converteror terminal devices. The set top terminal 220 of the present inventionintegrates either the program control signal 276 or the STTCIS, togetherwith data stored in the memory of the set top terminal 220, to generateon-screen menu displays for assisting the subscriber in choosingprograms for viewing. (Throughout the description the term “programcontrol information” is being used to indicate control informationcoming from the cable headend 208 to the set top terminal 220, whetherit is sent directly from the operations center 202, processed by thenetwork controller 214, and then forwarded to the set top terminal asSTTCIS, or transmitted over telephone lines.)

With further reference to Table A below, the types of information thatcan be sent via the program control signal include: number of programcategories, names of program categories, what channels are assigned to aspecific category (such as specialty channels), names of channels, namesof programs on each channel, program start times, length of programs,description of programs, menu assignment for each program, pricing,whether there is a sample video clip for advertisement for the program,and any other program, menu or product information.

The goal of the menu driven program selection system of the presentinvention, described in greater detail in a co-pending U.S. patentapplication entitled SET TOP TERMINAL FOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERYSYSTEM, Ser. No. 08/160,194, owned by the assignee of the presentinvention and incorporated herein by reference, is to allow thesubscriber to choose a program by touring through a series of menusutilizing a remote control 900 for cursor movement. The final choice inthe series of menus will identify one particular channel and one timefor activation of that channel. Armed with a channel and activation timethe set top terminal 220 can display the selected program on thetelevision for the viewer. To achieve this goal, an intelligentalpha-numeric code is assigned to each program. This alpha-numeric codeidentifies the category of the program, the menu in which the programshould be displayed, its transmission time(s), and the position on themenu that the program should be displayed. In a preferred embodiment,the program control information, including menu codes, is sentcontinuously from the operations center 202 to the network controller214, and ultimately to the set top terminal 220. For example, four hoursworth of programming information can be sent via the program controlinformation signal continuously in the format shown in Table A.

TABLE A shows the basic information that is needed by the set topterminal 220. The program descriptions shown are coded abbreviations.For example, C stands for comedy, N for news, S for sports, A forcartoons, and TX for text. If there is a textual description for aprogram, such as a movie, the description may be given following thatprogram's coded description or may be communicated following the fourhours of programming information. As is shown in the coded listing,program descriptions for programs greater than a half hour in lengthneed not be repeated (each half hour). The video description codeinforms the set top terminal 220 whether there is still or live videoavailable to advertise the program.

TABLE A *Program *Program name length *Menu code Description Video 12 PM1 Cheers .5 E24 C N 2 Terminator 2.0 A33 Tx S 3 Prime 1.0 D14 N N Time 4Football .5 B24 S N Special 12:30 PM 1 Simpsons .5 E14 & C13 C S 2Football 3.0 B13 S N Game

For example, a sporting program may be assigned a code ofB35-010194-1600-3.25-Michigan St. vs. USC. The letter B would assign theprogram to category B, sports. The second alpha-numeric character number3 would assign the program to the third menu of the sports category. Thethird character of the code, number 5, assigns the program to the fifthprogram slot on the third menu. The next six characters, Jan. 1, 1994,represent the date. The following four characters, 1600 represent thestart time which is followed by the length of the program and theprogram name. This entry represents a sports show, a college footballgame, which will be aired at 4:00 PM on New Years day 1994.

In the 12:30 Channel 1 entry of Table A, two menu codes are shown. Byallowing two menu codes, programs that may fit under two differentcategory descriptions may be shown in both menus to the subscriber. Withthis minimal amount of information being communicated to the set topterminal 220 on a regular basis, the terminal is able to determine theproper menu location for each program and the proper time and channel toactivate for the subscriber after his menu selection. In the preferredembodiment, the menu codes are generated at the operations center 202.

Table B shows an example Events Table that may be downloaded to a settop terminal 220 using the Event Data file which contains informationabout events and pricing. As shown in the table, the three columns ofthe Events Table identify the field number, the field itself and thetype of information downloaded in the Event Data file. The first columncontains the field numbers 1 through 11. The middle column contains thecorresponding field parameters, including the event type, event ID,global channel ID, price, start time, end time, start date, end date,P-icon, name and description. The third column contains correspondingfield type information. As shown in this field type informationtypically consists of an unsigned integer; hours, minutes and seconds;months, day and year; and ASCII character identifier.

TABLE B Field Field # Type 1 Event Type Unsigned Int 1 = YCTV 2 =Pay-Per-View 3 = Reg. TV 2 Event ID Unsigned Int 3 Global Channel IDUnsigned Int 4 Price (in Cents) Unsigned Int 5 Start Time HH:MM:SS 6 EndTime HH:MM:SS 7 Start Date MM/DD/YY 8 End Date MM/DD/YY 9 P-Icon ASCIIZ10 Name ASCIIZ 11 Description ASCIIZ

Table C shows an example Event data file. In particular, Table C showstwo data streams corresponding to two event types. The first data streamidentifies a YCTV event in the first field. The second field designatesthe event ID, which is 1234 in this example. The third field includesthe global channel ID number two. The fourth field indicates the cost of50 cents for this event. The fifth and sixth fields indicate therespective start and end times of 3:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., respectively.The seventh and eighth fields show the corresponding start and end date,designated as Aug. 25, 1993 and Aug. 27, 1993, respectively. Field nineindicates the P icon set to a graphics file. Finally, fields ten andeleven indicate the name and description of the event selected, which inthis case is Sesame Street™ and Barney™. The second data stream in theEvent.Dat example shown in Table C includes analogous information forTerminator IV™, which is designated in field one as a pay-per-viewevent.

TABLE C Event Data Example1’1234’2’50’03:00:00’15:00:00’08/25/93’08/27/93’pbs.pcx’Sesame Street &Barney's Sesame Street and Barney Abstract2’1234’2’50’20:00:00’22:00:00’08/25/93’08/25/93’t4.pcx’Terminator4’Terminator 4 Abstract

The program control information signal 276 and STTCIS can be formattedin a variety of ways and the on-screen menus can be produced in manydifferent ways. For instance, if the program control information signal276 carries no menu format information, the menu format for creating themenus can be fixed in ROM at the set top terminal 220. This methodallows the program control signal 276 to carry less information but hasthe least flexibility since the menu formats cannot be changed withoutphysically swapping the ROM holding the menu format information. In thepreferred embodiment, the menu format information is stored at the settop terminal 220 in temporary memory either in a RAM or EPROM. Thisconfiguration provides the desired flexibility in the menu format whilestill limiting the amount of information needed to be communicated viathe program control information signal 276. New menu format informationwould be sent via the program control information signal 276 or theSTTCIS to the set top terminals 220 each time there was a change to amenu.

In an embodiment, the menus remain fixed and only the text changes.Thus, the program control information signal 276 can be limited toprimarily text and a text generator can be employed in the set topterminal 220. This simple embodiment keeps the cost of the set topterminal 220 low and limits the bandwidth necessary for the programcontrol information. Another simple embodiment uses a separate channelfull-time (large bandwidth) just for the menu information.

FIGS. 6a and 6 b, particularly FIG. 6a, show a data format 920 at thebit-level for one embodiment of a program information signal 276. Thisframe format consists of six fields, namely: (1) a leading flag 922 atthe beginning of the message, (2) an address field 924, (3) a subscriberregion designation 926, (4) a set top terminal identifier 928 thatincludes a polling command/response (or P/F) bit 930, (5) an informationfield 932, and (6) a trailing flag 934 at the end of the message.

The eight-bit flag sequence that appears at the beginning 922 and end927 of a frame is used to establish and maintain synchronization. Such asequence typically consists of a “011111110” bit-stream. The addressfield 924 designates a 4-bit address for a given set top terminal 220.The subscriber region designation 926 is a 4-bit field that indicatesthe geographical region in which the subscriber's set top terminal 220is housed. The set top terminal identifier 928 is a 16-bit field thatuniquely identifies each set top terminal 220 with a 15-bit designationfollowed by an appended P/F bit 930. Although field size is provided bythis example, a variety of sizes can be used with the present invention.

The P/F bit 930 is used to command a polling response 920′ (FIG. 6b)from the set top terminal 220 addressed. The polling response 920′ issubstantially similar to the from format 920, and is commonly numbered,but with a prime (′) designation appended for clarity. The frame format920 also provides a variable-length information field 932 for other datatransmissions, such as information on system updates. The frame formatends with an 8-bit flag 934 (or trailing flag) that is identical informat to the leading flag 922, as set forth above. Other frame formats,such as MPEG, for example, will be apparent to one skilled in the artand can be easily adapted for use with the system.

D. Multiple Channel Architecture

To efficiently convey targeted advertisements to a desired audience, theoperations center 202 may employ a multiple channel architecture thatincludes program channels and a number of feeder channels to carryalternate programming, such as alternate targeted advertising. Theprogram channel carries a main program, such as a broadcast televisionshow, and accompanying advertisements. The feeder channels are ancillaryvideo/audio channels, which are delivered to the set top terminal 220,and which provide primarily alternate commercial and promotionalinterstitial material for use during program breaks. The concept oftargeted advertising makes use of feeder channels to allow for the settop terminals 220 to be switched to the most appropriate feeder channelat a program break, with appropriateness being based on informationknown about the demographics and viewing habits of users of the set topterminals 220, for example.

Careful management of the feeder channels, including their dynamicswitching and control of the advertising airing on the feeder channelsat any given time can greatly increase both the advertisers' likelihoodto reach an interested viewer, as well as the likelihood a viewer isinterested in a specific advertisement. The feeder channels are assigneda series of advertisements and a switching plan is developed at theoperations center 202 that directs individual set top terminals 220 toremain at the program channel or to switch from the program channel to aspecific feeder channel upon the occurrence of the program break.

The process of managing the feeder channels begins with a number ofconfiguration and set-up steps. First, individual set top terminaladdress information is collected at the operations center 202. Thisinformation is required to uniquely identify each set top terminal 220and to associate with that identifier necessary information to aid inthe targeting process. The set top terminal address information may beprovided to the operations center 202 upon installation or activation ofthe set top terminal 220 in a viewer's home. Other information may becollected from various sources, including viewer surveys, marketingdatabases correlated by address or zip code+4, for example.

Next, set top terminal groups may be determined. This is needed if themanagement of information and targeting to individual set top terminals220 is not practical initially, either due to non-availability ofinformation to the appropriate level of detail, or technology to controland deliver messages and advertisements to individual set top terminals220. For a number of target criteria, individual groups are defined.Examples of target criteria include demographic targeting(age/sex/income) and Area of Dominant Influence (ADI). Each targetcriteria is then segmented into appropriate groups. For example, the ADImay include Los Angles, Calif. and Washington D.C. New targetingcriteria can be added and the groups redefined after their initialestablishment.

For each targeting criterion, each set top terminal 220 is assigned toits appropriate group based on the information collected about theset-top terminal's environment. Once the set top terminals 220 areassigned to groups, their group assignments are conveyed to the set topterminal 220 and stored there.

The group assignment information that is stored at the set top terminal220 is able to survive power cycling of the set top terminal 220, andother normal service interruptions. Finally, as groups are modified orgroup assignments change, the set top terminals 220 are notified of thechanges. Additionally, the group assignment information is periodicallyresent to the set top terminals 220 to ensure that newly added set topterminals 220 and those that have accidentally lost their informationare up-to-date.

Since the available feeder channels may be shared across several programchannels, their allocation must be managed and optimized. A breakmanagement engine determines how may feeder channels are available foreach program break. Each program break may contain one or more “pods”during which a “commercial spot” or targeted advertisement may be aired.At a minimum, one commercial spot will be available for each pod in aprogram break (i.e., the spot airing on the same channel as theprogram). However, the maximum number of spots to be available for agiven program break will depend on the total number of feeder channelsavailable and the alignment of program breaks across all programchannels. For some programming, the occurrence of program breaks cannotbe predicted in advance of programming airing (e.g., live sportsbroadcasts). For replayed programming, the occurrence of program breakswill be known. Furthermore, some programming may be manually edited toinsert program breaks at appropriate intervals. The manual placement ofprogram breaks during the program edit process can be used to forceprogram breaks to line up or be totally staggered across programchannels, permitting more predictable program break placements, asnecessary.

Finally, targeted advertisements can be assigned to program breaks basedon program breaks that occur in a particular program (e.g., “All MyChildren”). Alternately, targeted advertisements may be assigned toprogram breaks based on program categories (e.g., sports). In thediscussion that follows, the targeted advertisements are assigned basedon a specific program. Algorithms for assigning targeted advertisementsbased on program categories will be described later with respect toFIGS. 28-36.

A spot placement engine determines the optimum types of spots to beplaced based on break timing and feeder channel availability. The outputof the spot placement engine includes an ad playbill that can be usedfor billing, analysis and commercial trafficking purposes. The spotplacement engine takes into account likely viewers of a program, thedesirability of available spots to those viewers, targeting criteria,and the number of feeder channels available for each program break. Thespot being placed in the program break serves as the default targetedadvertisement (most appropriate to the overall audience) in case feederchannels are not available for alternate targeted advertising. Thedefault targeted advertising also supports cable system that either arenot configured to provide targeted advertising, or are receiving otherprogramming.

Once specific spots are selected for each program break, the set topgroups that should remain with the program channel, and those thatshould tune to a particular feeder channel at each program break aredetermined, based on target criteria of interest. To accomplish theswitching of set top terminals 220 to the appropriate feeder channelsrequires a detailed switching plan. The switching plan is distributed tothe necessary control points in the system, such as the cable headends208, which are then responsible for the periodic transmission of theswitching plans to the set top terminals 220. Alternately, the switchingplans are distributed directly to the set top terminals 220 from theoperations center 202.

After the set top terminal 220 receives and stores the switching plan,the set top terminal 220 will tune to the appropriate feeder channelduring the corresponding program break, if the set top terminal 220 istuned to a program channel that carries programming that cooperates withthe feeder channel architecture. The viewer may, at any time, overridefeeder channel switching by selecting a non-cooperating program channel.

The set top terminal 220 will store information indicating that theswitch was made. The accumulated switching history information will becollected from the set top terminal 220 at a later time for reviewpurposes. For example, upon command from the control points, the set topterminal 220 will provide for the transparent collection of switchinghistory data to a local (head-end) or national site. The unique set topterminal identification information will be provided with the collecteddata. As mechanisms become available to identify specific viewers in ahousehold, the system will allow for individual identificationinformation to also be provided with collected data. Finally, uponcollection of the set top terminal switching history data, thetelevision delivery system 200 will allow for the return of used set-topmemory space to available pools for future use.

FIG. 4a shows the multiple channel architecture module 265, according toan embodiment of the invention, that resides at the operations center202. In FIG. 4a, the multiple channel architecture module 265 includesan advertisement assignment module 275, which will be described later inmore detail. The advertisement assignment module 275 receives programschedule and clock information regarding broadcast programs from aprogram schedule module 289; advertisement/promotional information froman advertisement/promotional information module 287; and set topterminal subscriber information from a subscriber information module287. The advertisement assignment module 275 provides outputs to acommercial operations module 277 and a switching plan generator 291.

The set top subscriber information module 285 receives inputs from aconfiguration set-up system 293 and a set top data collection engine295. The set top subscriber information module 285 provides outputs tothe configuration set-up system 293, the switching plan generator 291and the advertisement assignment module 275.

FIG. 4b shows the configuration set-up system 293 in more detail. Aninterface 297 receives individual addressing information unique toindividual set top terminals 220. The interface 297 can include aworkstation, such as the work station 262, for example, from which anoperator at the operations center 202 manually enters set top terminalinformation. Alternately, set top terminal information can beautomatically entered at the interface 297 by downloading from anoff-site database, the Internet, a storage medium, such as a CD-ROM or afloppy disk, or by collecting the information directly from theindividual set top terminals 220. A processor 299 process the receivedset top information and creates a Category/Group Definition matrix and aGroup Assignment matrix that can be used to target advertisements togroups of set top terminals 220 or to an individual set top terminal220. The Category/Group Definition and Group Assignment matrices will bedescribed later. The Category/Group Definition and Group Assignmentmatrices are then stored in a database 301, and are periodically updatedas subscriber information, for example, changes.

The information used by the processor 299 to create the Category/GroupDefinition and Group Assignment matrices includes, for example, the settop terminal identifier, zip code+4 data, household income, and age andsex of the subscribers, for example. The information gathered by theconfiguration set-up system 293 can come from a variety of sourcesincluding MSOs and marketing databases, direct inputs from thesubscribers, and other means. Once the data are collected, the processor299 will assign category numbers to certain types of the data. Forexample, the ADI would be assigned category 1 and household (HH) incomewould be assigned category 2. Next, the configuration set-up system 293creates a number of non-overlapping groups for each category. Forexample, ADI can be broken down into Seattle, Wash., Washington D.C.,Denver Colo., Los Angles Calif., etc. Similarly, HH income can be brokendown into a number of income groups such as no income, 20-40K, 60-120K,etc. Finally, the configuration set-up system 293 assigns a “group maskrepresentation” for each group within every category. The group maskrepresentation is simply a binary number that can be used by othercomponents of the multiple channel architecture module 265 to identify aparticular group. Table D shows a completed Category/Group Definitionmatrix that is used by the advertisement assignment module 275 to assigntargeted advertising to groups of set top terminals 220 or to individualset top terminals 220.

The processor 299 also creates the Group Assignment matrix. The GroupAssignment matrix, shown in Table E, assigns to each set top terminal220, for each category, its corresponding group number. Associated witheach group number is the group definition and the group maskrepresentation. For example, the set top terminal 220 identified by theset top unit address 12311 is assigned group number 2 (i.e., WashingtonD.C.) for ADI, and group number 3 (i.e., 40-60k) for household income.The Group Assignment matrix is updated periodically as categories andgroup definitions change, and as data related to individual set topterminals 220 or groups of set top terminals 220 change.

The configuration set-up system 293 also delivers the groupconfiguration (i.e., information specific to an individual set topterminal 220, from the Group Assignment matrix) to each set top terminal220. For example, the set top terminal 220 assigned the set top unitaddress 12311 is sent category 1, group 2 and group mask representation01000000000. The group configuration can be transmitted directly to eachset top terminal 220 from the operations center 202. Alternately, thegroup configuration can first be transmitted to the cable headend 208.The cable headend 208 then transmits the group configuration to theappropriate set top terminals 220. In addition to an initial delivery ofthe group configuration to the set top terminals 220, the set-up system293 can periodically transmit updated group configurations to the settop terminals 220, either directly or through the cable headend 208.

FIG. 4c shows the advertisement assignment module 275 in more detail. Abreak management engine 305 uses program schedule/clock information fromthe program schedule module 289 to assign feeder channels to programbreaks. A spot placement engine 307 decides which advertisement spots toplace in open spots, or pods, during each program. A group assignmentengine 309 determines which set top terminals 220 will view whichsimultaneously aired advertisement spots. The spot placement engine 307receives information related to program breaks and available feederchannels from the break management engine 305. The break managementengine 305, the spot placement engine 307, and the group assignmentengine 309 will be described later in more detail.

The break management engine 305 functions to divide available feederchannels and assign the available feeder channels optimally to thoseprogram channels that have concurrent program breaks. Because eachprogram shown on a programing channel will normally carry associatedadvertisements for each program break, or pod within the program break,the break management engine 305 need only assign feeder channels ifalternate advertisements are identified to be broadcast during theprogram breaks. Thus, during the program break, the program-channeladvertisements or advertisements carried on one or more feeder channelscan be broadcast to a particular set top terminal 220 or group of settop terminals 220.

Because there may be a number of program channels that use targetedadvertising, the break management engine 305 must, at every point intime, divide up the available feeder channels and assign them optimallyto the program channels. This requires taking into account the alignmentof program breaks across all the program channels. For example, if twoprogram channels have overlapping program breaks, separate feederchannels will likely need to be assigned to each of the programchannels. If more than one category of targeting (e.g., ADI, householdincome) is assigned to the program channels, then several separatefeeder channels may be needed to carry all the assigned targetedadvertisements. For example, if two program channels, each of which isassigned two categories of targeted advertisements are being broadcast,and the program breaks for the two program channels overlap, then thebreak management engine 305 will assign one separate feeder channel toeach program channel. In this example, the program channel will carryone category of targeted advertisement and the feeder channel will carrythe second category of targeted advertisement. In this alternative, theset top terminal 220 decides, based on a priority algorithm, whichtargeting category to switch to in case of ambiguous commands to switchto two separate feeder channels. Alternately, the break managementengine 305 can assign feeder channels based on the group assignmentnumbers. Referring to Table D, four group numbers (i.e., 1-4) are shownfor the category of targeted advertisement, ADI. For the broadcast of aparticular program, the four groups can be divided into two, with groups1 and 2 receiving the targeted advertising carried on the programchannel and groups 3 and 4 receiving the targeted advertising carried onfeeder channel 1. This later example is shown in Table F.

After determining how many feeder channels will be needed for eachprogram break of all programs airing at the same time, the breakmanagement engine 305 must allocate feeder channels to the programbreaks. Because the program channel will always carry targetedadvertisements along with the regular program, every pod in the programwill always air at least one spot (i.e., the default targetedadvertisement). Thus, if the break management engine 305 is unable toassign a feeder channel to a specific program break, at least one set ofcommercials will still be available for airing.

In addition to accounting for the occurrence and alignment of programbreaks within the programs, and the number of feeder channels available,the break management engine 305 must also account for the number andtype of available targeted advertisements for display and the variety ofsubscribers (according to group assignment numbers) who will potentiallyview the programs. An advertiser will provide this information whenforwarding advertisements to the operation center 202 for airing.

In the embodiments described above, the break management engine 305assigned one or more feeder channels to carry targeted advertisements,under the assumption that the entire program break (which consists ofone or more pods) would receive all the spots assigned to the specificfeeder channel. In another embodiment, individual pods within eachprogram break may be separately assigned targeted advertisements. Inthis embodiment, the break management engine 305 tracks not onlyprograms and program breaks, but within each program break, also tracksbreaks between pods. The break management engine 305, in cooperationwith the group assignment engine 309, will then allocate feeder channelsto air targeted advertisements on a pod-by-pod basis. If a sufficientnumber of feeder channels are available, the break management engine 305can assign a separate feeder channel to each pod. Alternately, throughthe switching plan, the break management engine 305 can requireindividual set top terminals 220 to switch between the program channelsand one or more feeder channels during the program break. Theconstruction and operation of the group switching plan will be describedlater in detail.

The spot placement engine 307 determines which specific advertisementsare to be placed in each available open pod of the program break. Thespot placement engine 307 first receives the list of availableadvertisements/promotional material from the advertisement/promotionmodule 287. In cooperation with the break management engine 305, thespot placement engine 307 then determines which of the availableadvertisements/promotions should air in each pod during the broadcast ofa program. This may include assigning the advertisement/promotion to theprogram channel to serve as the default targeted advertisement in case afeeder channel is not available to provide alternate targetedadvertising, or in case a set top terminal 220 is unable to switch tothe feeder channel. For example, if the preferred category of targetedadvertisement for the program “All My Children” is ADI, the spotplacement engine 307 will select one or more targeted advertisementsfrom the list of available advertisements/promotions to air duringprogram breaks in the broadcast. If the demographic or other dataassembled by the configuration set-up system 293 indicates that morethan one targeted advertisement should be played, depending on the ADI,then the spot placement engine 307 will select the appropriate number oftargeted advertisements from the available advertisement/promotionalmodule 287 and will assign each targeted advertisement to a specificfeeder channel and the program channel. The operation of the spotplacement engine 307 to assign the targeted advertisements will bedescribed later in more detail.

TABLE D Category/Group Definition Matrix Category Category Group GroupMask Number Name Number Group Definition Representation 1 ADI 1 Seattle,WA 1000000000 2 Washington, D.C. 0100000000 3 Denver, CO 0010000000 4Los Angeles, CA 0001000000 2 HH income 1 No income 1000000000 2 20-40K0100000000 3 40-60K 0010000000 4 60-120K 0001000000 3 Category x 1 Groupa 1000000000 2 Group b 0100000000 3 Group c 0010000000 4 Group d0001000000 5 Group e 0000100000 6 Group f 0000010000

The group assignment engine 309 receives inputs from the breakmanagement engine 305 and the spot engine 307 and then determines whichset top terminal 220 will view which simultaneously-aired targetedadvertisements. Thus, for each program break, the group assignmentengine 309 assigns the set top terminals 220 to either the programchannel or one of the feeder channels, if available. The set topterminals 220 can be assigned based on their placement within a group(i.e., based on their group assignment number) or based on theirindividual set-top unit address. In tables E and F, the assignments areshown based on the group assignment numbers. As also shown in Table F,the group addressing for a program break is based on a single categoryof targeted advertising. This may be necessary to avoid a potentialconflict regarding which feeder channel a set top terminal 220 mustswitch to.

TABLE E Group Assignment Matrix Set-top Unit Group Group Mask AddressCategory Name Number Group Definition Representation 12311 ADI 2Washington, D.C. 01000000000 HH income 3 40-60K 00100000000 Category x 5Group d 00100000000 12312 ADI 4 LA 00100000000 HH income 3 40-60K00100000000 Category x 2 Group a 10000000000 12313 ADI 3 Denver00100000000 HH income 4 60-80K 00010000000 Category x 3 Group b01000000000

The group assignment engine 309 provides an output to the switching plangenerator 291. The output indicates which group assignment numbers(i.e., which groups of set top terminals 220) are assigned to each ofthe program channel and the feeder channels for each program break ineach program. The switching plan generator 291 then generates the bitword, or group mask assignment that is used to assign the groups to theprogram channels and the feeder channels. Once generated, the switchingplan is distributed to control points that are then responsible forfinal delivery to the set top terminals 220. The control points caninclude the local cable headends 208. Alternately, the switching planscan be distributed directly to the set top boxes 220 from the operationscenter 202. For example, the operations center 202 can distribute theswitching plans by satellite to a satellite receiver that is co-locatedwith the set top terminal 220. The switching plan can also bedistributed to the set top terminals 220 over the telecommunicationsnetwork 100 and the Internet 101.

TABLE F Set Top Switching Plan Category of Channel to which to GroupsAssigned to Group Mask Program Targeting Tune Specific ChannelAssignment All My Children ADI Program Channel 1, 2 11000000000 Channel1, Break 1 Feeder Channel 1 3, 4 00110000000 Gorilla in Mist HH IncomeProgram Channel 1, 2, 3 11100000000 Channel 2, Break 1 Feeder Channel 400010000000 ESPN Basketball, Category x Program Channel 1, 2 11000000000Channel 3, Break 1 Feeder Channel 3 3 00100000000 Feeder Channel 4 400010000000 Feeder Channel 5 5 00001000000 Feeder Channel 6 600000100000 In Concert, Channel All (no tuning) Program Channel All11111111111 4, Break 1

The switching plans can be distributed separately from the televisionprograms or can be distributed with the television programs. Bydistributing the switching plan with the program, the need for controlpoint relays could be eliminated, thereby allowing for more efficientuse of available bandwidth and centralized control functions. Theswitching plan may be distributed well in advance of airing of a programand can be updated as conditions warrant.

The switching plan provided by the switching plan generator 291 is anational switching plan. To account for local insertion of targetedadvertising, local cable headends 208 can override certain targetedadvertisements and insert local targeted advertising on one or more ofthe feeder channels. Alternately, certain feeder channels may bereserved for local use, or open pods may be reserved in the programbreaks on other feeder channels. After the local cable headend 208 hasinserted the local targeted advertisement on a feeder channel, the localcable headend 208 may amend the national switching plan to create alocal system switching plan. The details of these operations at thelocal cable headend 208 are described later in more detail.

The set-top data collection module 295 receives programs watched dataand targeted advertisement watched data from the set top terminals 220.This information is used at the operations center 202 for billingcommercial advertisers and may also be used as an input for future adcampaigns. The targeted advertisement watched data is collected in thisfashion because there may be no way of knowing, a priori, which targetedadvertisements will be displayed on a particular set top terminal 220.

The advertisement assignment module 275 provides an ad playbill input tothe commercial operations module 277. The ad playbill input specifieswhich particular advertisement is to be aired at a particular time slot,the run-time for the advertisement, and the location of theadvertisement in storage in the operations center 202, for example. Thead playbill is then used to retrieve the appropriate analog or digitaltape or file containing the selected advertisement.

FIG. 4d shows the configuration of the feeder channel architecture 317at the cable headend 208. A set top delivery system 319 receives thenational switching plan from the operations center 202. The nationalswitching plan is digitally compressed and multiplexed and can beprovided to the cable headend 208 as part of the digital RF programsignal 205, for example. The digital program signal 205 is received atthe cable headend receiver 203 and may be passed to the signal processor209 or passed through the cable distribution network 236 directly to theset top terminals 220. In the embodiment, the digital program signal 205is processed at the cable headend 208. The control receiver 228 receivesstatus reports and other data from the set top terminals 220. A set topdata collection engine 321 receives targeted advertisement watched dataand other information from the control receiver 228, which may then betemporarily stored in the database 226, and passes the data to theoperations center 202. A configuration set-up system 323 receivesinitial and updated set top configuration data from the operationscenter 202 and passes the configuration data to the set top terminals220. The configuration set up system 323 is also used to locallyreconfigure the Group Assignment matrix.

The signal processor 209, under control of the network controller 214passes the national switching plan to the set top delivery system 319.The set top delivery system 319 then either modifies the nationalswitching plan and passes it on to the set top terminals 220 or passesthe unmodified national delivery plan on to the set top terminals 220 asthe local system-specific switching plan. The local system-specificswitching plan is passed from the set top delivery system 319 to thesignal processor 209, and from the signal processor 209 to the cabledistribution system 236 and the set top terminals 220.

To modify the component of the digital program signal 205 that is thenational switching plan, the set top delivery system 319 demultiplexesthe national switching plan from the digital program signal 205. The settop delivery system 319 may then modify the assignments of groups of settop terminals 220, or individual set top terminals 220, to specificfeeder channels or the program channel. If the group assignments aremodified, the group mask assignment is also modified. The localsystem-specific switching plan is then sent to the set top terminals220.

The local system-specific switching plan can be sent as part of theprogram signal or as part of the STTCIS. The local system-specificswitching plan can also be sent to the set top terminals 220 in advanceof the program signal. In this event, the local system-specificswitching plan may need to be updated to account for program changes andreassignment of targeted advertisements, for example. The localsystem-specific switching plan may also be transmitted periodically tothe set top terminals 220 to ensure that any set top terminal 220 thatwas in a “power-off” condition when the switching plan was originallysent receives the latest version of the local system-specific switchingplan.

As noted above, the signal processor 209 and the network controller 214provide the capability to insert local programming, including localtargeted advertisements into the signal sent to the set top terminals220. When open pods exist in the feeder channels, or when a local cablesystem is authorized to override national advertising, the signalprocessor 209, under control of the network controller 214, will addlocal targeted advertisements to the appropriate feeder channels. If theaddition of local targeted advertising requires a change in thenation-wide switching plan, the network controller 214 will instruct theset top delivery system 319 to make the appropriate changes. In order tomake the appropriate changes, the set top delivery system 319 mustmaintain the same Category/Group Definition and Group Assignmentmatrices as are maintained at the operations center 202. Alternately,the set top delivery system 319 may create new matrices that do notconflict with the existing nationally-defined Categroy/Group Definitionmatrices.

FIG. 4e shows the set top terminal 220 adapted for use with the feederchannel architecture of FIG. 4a. A set top switching engine 325 receivesthe set top configuration from the configuration set-up system 293, andstores the configuration in erasable permanent memory 329. The set topswitching engine 325 also receives and stores the local system-specificor nation-wide switching plan from the switching plan generator 291 viathe set top delivery system 319.

The set top switching engine 325 provides control information andadvertisements watched data to a set top data collection engine 327. Thedata are stored in the memory 329 and are available for transmission tothe local cable headend 208 or directly to the operations center 202. Ina cable television system, the data may be transmitted over theinstalled cable delivery system 236, using various polling techniquesand transmission protocols, such as those describe previously withrespect to gathering programs watched data. The advertisements watcheddata includes the set top unit address, the program identifier (programname) and the channel to which the set top was tuned during the programbreaks. The data may also include click stream data such as operation ofthe volume mute button, for example.

When the viewer selects a program channel that incorporates the feederchannel features, the set top switching engine 325 compares the currentlocal system-specific switching plan to the set top configuration planto determine whether to stay with the program channel during the programbreaks or to switch to one of the feeder channels. If the switching plancalls for the set top terminal 220 to be switched to a feeder channel,the set top switching engine 325 sends a control signal to seamlessly,or transparently switch the program channel to the appropriate feederchannel.

In the above embodiments, the multiple channel architecture module 265is described that provides for real time broadcast of targetedadvertising to individual set top terminals 220. However, the multiplechannel architecture module 265 need not broadcast the targetedadvertisements in real time. In another embodiment, the targetedadvertisements can be broadcast to individual set top terminals 220, andstored within the memory 327 of the set top terminal 220. In thisembodiment, the need for feeder channels is eliminated. However, thenational and local system-specific switching plans are still provided tothe set top terminals 220, either directly from the operations center202, or from the cable headends 208.

An example of the process for assigning targeted advertisements toprogram channels and to feeder channels using the spot placement engine307 will now be described. As discussed above, targeted advertising usestargeting categories and independent groups within each target categoryto tie three entities together: 1) set top terminals 220; 2)advertisements; and 3) programs. The set top terminals 220 (or viewers)are assigned to groups for each targeting category based on numerousfactors. One method to assign the set top terminals 220 to groups is touse the zip code+4 as an index into one of the available demographicmarketing databases. From the zip code+4 data, a distinct demographiccluster can be determined. The demographic cluster can then be mappeddirectly to the specific group within each targeting category. Manualassignment of groups to set top terminals 220 would be a daunting task,for a large population of set top terminals (approaching severalmillion). Therefore, the processor 299 performs this functionautomatically, using its installed software routines. Alternativemethods can also be devised to automatically map individual set topterminals 220 to groups within targeting categories. Once each set topterminal 220 is mapped to one group for each targeting category, thegroup assignments are delivered to the set top terminals 220 for storage(see Table E).

Next, programs are tied to groups as well. For each program, thepercentage of viewers (or set top terminals 220) for each group can beidentified 1) initially using estimates, and 2) becoming more accurateover time using actual programs watched data. Table G shows a samplebreakdown of viewership for 5 example programs for 3 example targetingcategories. The viewership data may be provided from a number of sourcesincluding surveys, Nielsen ratings and programs watched data collectedby the set top terminals 220, for example. In this example, the threetargeting categories are the same as those presented in Table E, and thegroup assignment numbers are the same as those presented in Table D.Thus, targeting categories 1 and 2 each have 4 groups associated withthem, and targeting category 3 has six groups associated with it. Thus,for program 1, the targeting category 1 refers to ADI and under group 1,25% of the viewers of program 1 from the targeting category ADI residein the Seattle, Wash. ADI. The viewership percentages for each targetingcategory for each program sum up to 100%.

TABLE G Target Group Group Group Group Group Group Program Category 1 23 4 5 6 Program 1 1 25 25 25 25 N/A N/A ″ 2 30 10 20 40 N/A N/A ″ 3 1010 20 20 20 20 Program 2 1 10 20 30 40 N/A N/A ″ 2 25 25 25 25 N/A N/A ″3 10 15 25 25 15 10 Program 3 1 40 30 20 10 N/A N/A ″ 2 80 10 5 5 N/AN/A ″ 3 25 25 10 10 15 15 Program 4 1 50 0 50 0 N/A N/A ″ 2 0 40 40 20N/A N/A ″ 3 10 10 25 25 15 15 Program 5 1 20 40 40 20 N/A N/A ″ 2 30 3010 30 N/A N/A ″ 3 10 30 10 30 10 10

Alternatively, if the viewership breakdown by group for a programdiffers depending on the time of day or day of week a program airs,multiple breakdowns may exist and need to be developed for each day partin which a program may air.

Advertisements can also be broken down as to how well an advertisementranks with each group within one and up to all possible targetingcategories, again using percentages. This information may be provided byan advertiser responsible for the advertisement. Table H shows a sampleassignment of group rankings for 8 sample advertisements using the sametargeting categories and group numbers as in Table G. Not alladvertisements may be assigned to groups for a targeting category if anadvertiser does not wish its advertisement to be targeted in the mannerrequired by that targeting category.

Referring to Table H, the data indicates that for ad 1, and targetingcategory 1 (ADI) the advertiser believes that ad 1 is appropriate theviewers in groups 1 and 2 and is not appropriate for the viewers ingroups 3 and 4. The advertiser also believes that ad 1 is equallyappropriate for both the group 1 and the group 2 viewers. However, ifthe group 1 viewers been determined to be more likely to respond to ad 1than the group 2 viewers, then group 1 could be given a higherpercentage than group 2. Table H also shows that ad 1 is not applicableto groups 5 and 6 because only four groups are defined for the targetingcategory ADI. Thus, all the set top terminals 220 will be grouped intoone of groups 1 through 4.

Using this paradigm, advertisements can be targeted using at least twomethods. The first is a designated multi-ad campaign where specificunique sets of groups are assigned for each ad of the campaign. In thesecond method, each advertisement provided by an advertiser isindependently associated with groups. Advertisements from severaldifferent advertisers are then used together to optimize use of thefeeder channels.

TABLE H Target Cate- Group Group Group Group Group Group Ad gory 1 2 3 45 6 Ad 1 1 50 50 0 0 N/A N/A ″ 2 30 10 20 40 N/A N/A ″ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ad2 1 0 0 50 50 N/A N/A ″ 2 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A ″ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ad 3 1 0 0 0 0N/A N/A ″ 2 25 25 25 25 N/A N/A ″ 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 Ad 4 1 50 0 50 0 N/A N/A″ 2 0 40 40 20 N/A N/A ″ 3 10 30 10 30 10  10  Ad 5 1 40 20 20 40 N/AN/A ″ 2 10 30 30 30 N/A N/A ″ 3 30 30 30 5 5 0 Ad 6 1 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A ″2 0 0 0 0 N/A N/A ″ 3 10 10 10 10 30  30  Ad 7 1 20 40 40 20 N/A N/A ″ 225 25 25 25 N/A N/A ″ 3 0 30 20 30 0 20  Ad 8 1 30 40 0 30 N/A N/A ″ 230 30 10 30 N/A N/A ″ 3 20 0 20 20 20  20 

Using the information above, the spot placement engine 307determines: 1) how many feeder channels are assigned to which program;2) which targeting category is used for which program; 3) whichadvertisements air on which feeder channels/program channels; and 4)which groups are assigned to which feeder channels/program channels. Thealgorithm in the spot placement engine 307 that assigns targetedadvertisements to the program and feeder channels assumes that of thetotal number of feeders channels available [TOTAL_FEEDERS], no more thansome maximum number of the feeder channels can be or are desired to beassigned to a given program at any given time. This amount is denoted as[MAX_FEEDERS]. The algorithm spreads the available feeder channels amongseveral programs. The algorithm can also be modified to supportdifferent rates charged to different advertisers and can take intoaccount the following:

ensuring advertiser's budget is not exceeded

defining unique target categories and groups for an advertiser (presumesthe advertiser can apply the population of set top terminals 220 totheir group definitions)

accounting for multiple program breaks during a program, multiplecommercial pods within each program break and multiple length ads forplacement in the program breaks

ensuring enough margin for timing of actual program breaks to be offsetfrom expected program break start-times

The operation of the algorithm will be described with reference to theexample values shown in Tables D-H.

Step 1: For each program, determine the advertisement with the highestoverall ranking if that advertisement were the only advertisement to beplaced in the program. In essence, this step compares the data in TablesG and H. To do this, for each advertisement, multiply the ranking (orprogram viewership percentage) for each group for each targetingcategory from Table G by the breakdown percentage of advertisingappropriateness shown in Table H for that same group for that targetingcategory. The process is repeated for each program and the results aresummed.

For example, using program 1, ad 1:

target category 1: 50*25 + 50*25 + 0*25 + 0*25 = 25% target category 2:30*30 + 10*10 + 20*20 + 40*40 = 30% target category 3: 0*10 + 0*10 +0*20 + 0*20 0*20 + 0*20 = 0%

The cross-multiplied result then shows a measure of effectiveness foreach advertisement if displayed in the corresponding program.

Step 2: For each program, determine the advertisement/targeting categorycombination that results in the highest overall ranking. List theprogram, the overall ranking, the corresponding advertisement, and thecorresponding targeting category. Note that only one advertisement willgive the overall highest ranking. Table I shows the results. Thus fromTable I ad 5, displayed during a program break in program 2 yields ameasure of effectiveness of 50 (highest) and ad 6 along with program 5yields a measure of effectiveness of 20.

TABLE I Highest Overall Corresponding Corresponding Program Ranking AdTargeting Category Program 1 30 Ad 2 1 Program 2 50 Ad 5 2 Program 3 25Ad 3 3 Program 4 40 Ad 1 1 Program 5 20 Ad 6 2

Step 3: Order the resulting list of programs from lowest overall rankingto highest overall ranking. Table J shows the results.

Step 4: Determine the number of programs that may be assigned feederchannels. For example, consider the first [TOTAL_FEEDERS]+1 programs forfeeder channel assignment. Thus, if two feeder channels are available,three programs will be examined to determine which program will yieldthe best use of the available feeder channels. In this case, the threelowest-ranking programs (i.e., programs 5, 3 and 1) are considered forfeeder channel assignment. For the remaining programs (i.e., programs 4and 2), assign the advertisement that yields that highest rating forplacement in the program break for that program. For the programsselected for possible feeder channel assignment, perform steps 5-18 ofthe algorithm, starting with the program in Step 3 with the lowestoverall ranking (i.e., in the example, program 5).

TABLE J Corresponding Corresponding Program Overall Ranking Ad TargetingCategory Program 5 20 Ad 6 2 Program 3 25 Ad 3 3 Program 1 30 Ad 2 1Program 4 40 Ad 1 1 Program 2 50 Ad 5 2

Step 5: Separately for each targeting category, multiply the ranking foreach group for each advertisement (Table H) by the breakdown percentagefor that same group for that program (Table G). Find the highest valuepossible. In case of a tie, select any of the advertisements with thehighest values. Alternately, steps 5-14 could be repeated for every tie.Table K below shows an example case for targeting category 1, where ad1, group 2 is initially selected (with a high value of 20%). Note thatTable K shows a three-way tie.

TABLE K Target Cate- Group Group Group Group Group Group Ad gory 1 2 3 45 6 Ad 1 1 50*20 50*40  0*40 0*20 N/A N/A Ad 2 1  0*20  0*40 50*40 50*20N/A N/A Ad 3 1  0*20  0*40  0*40 0*20 N/A N/A Ad 4 1 50*20  0*40 50*400*20 N/A N/A Ad 5 1 40*20 20*40 20*40 40*20 N/A N/A Ad 6 1  0*20  0*40 0*40 0*20 N/A N/A Ad 7 1 20*20 40*40 40*40 20*20 N/A N/A Ad 8 1 30*2040*40  0*40 30*20 N/A N/A

Step 6: Select from the iterations performed in Step 5, the targetingcategory that yields the largest value. If there is a tie, select anyone of the targeting categories.

Step 7: For the target category selected, find the next highest value ofthe (rank)*(breakdown percentage) product for a group not yet selected.If there is a tie, select the advertisement for which a group with ahigher value has already been selected. Continue until all groups havebeen selected and assigned to an advertisement. Table L shows theresults. In Table L, for group 1, either ad 1 or ad 4 could be selected(i.e., the product: (rank)*(breakdown percentage) is 10 for ad 1 and forad 4). However, for group 2, ad 1 has already been selected. Therefore,because there is a tie for group 1 between ad 1 and ad 4, and becausegroup 2 has ad 1 selected, the algorithm selects ad 1 for group 1. As aresult of Step 7, the algorithm limits the number of advertisements thatwill be run, but maximizes the ranking percentage of the breakdown. Theresults show that, considering targeting category 1 (ADI) only, ad 1should be displayed for groups 1 and 2 and ad 2 should be displayed forgroups 3 and 4.

TABLE L Target Cate- Group Group Group Group Group Group Ad gory 1 2 3 45 6 Ad 1 1 50*20 50*40  0*40  0*20 N/A N/A Ad 2 1  0*20  0*40 50*4050*20 N/A N/A Ad 3 1  0*20  0*40  0*40  0*20 N/A N/A Ad 4 1 50*20  0*4050*40  0*20 N/A N/A Ad 5 1 40*20 20*40 20*40 40*20 N/A N/A Ad 6 1  0*20 0*40  0*40  0*20 N/A N/A Ad 7 1 20*20 40*40 40*40 20*20 N/A N/A Ad 8 130*20 40*40  0*40 30*20 N/A N/A

Step 8: Sum the (rank)*(breakdown percentage) products for selectedgroups for each advertisement.

Corresponding to the example above:

Ad1−Sum=50*20+50*40=30%

Ad2−Sum=50*40+50*20=30%

Step 9: Order those advertisements that have selected groups bydecreasing value of the (rank)*(breakdown percentage) product.

Step 10: Select the [MAX_FEEDERs]+1 advertisements with the highest(rank)*(breakdown percentage) products. For example, if it is desired toassign at most one feeder channel to a program, the algorithm selectsthe two advertisements with the highest (rank)*(breakdown percentage)products.

Step 11: For the advertisements selected (Step 10), examine each groupnot yet included in the selected advertisements. Assign eachnon-included group to the advertisement where the (rank)*(breakdownpercentage) product is the highest for the selected advertisements.

Step 12: For each advertisement selected, sum the product,(rank)*(breakdown percentage), for the groups assigned to eachadvertisement.

Step 13: Reorder the advertisements by highest summed amount to thelowest. The advertisement with the highest summed amount will air in theprogram channel as the default advertisement.

Step 14: Compute the total (rank)*(breakdown percentage) amount of alladvertisements combined. In this case, the total is 60% (from step 10).

Step 15: Repeat steps 5-14 above for the same selected program of Step 4using the remaining target categories.

Step 16: Select the target category that yields the largest totalamount. Assign as the Maximum Rank for that program.

Step 17: Repeat Steps 5-16 for the next program selected in Step 4,computing the Maximum Rank for each program.

Step 18: Use the available feeder channels for the programs that yieldthe largest Maximum Rank. Make use of the relevant targeting categorydetermined in Step 16, with advertisements as determined in Step 10,with group assignments as determined in Step 11.

Step 19: For all other programs, assign the single advertisement thatyielded the highest Overall Ranking as determined in Step 3.

The above algorithm is meant to be illustrative and not limiting. Otheralgorithms are possible for assigning targeted advertising to groups ofset top terminals 220 or to individual set top terminals 220. Forexample, the above algorithm could incorporate a weighting scheme forcertain factors. Other targeted advertising routines, such as thosedescribed with respect to FIGS. 28-33 can also be incorporated into theabove algorithm.

E. Software Subroutines for Television Programming Delivery

The program control information signal 276 is produced substantially bythe CAP CPU 264 and the Delivery Control Processor Unit (DCPU) 270. Anoverview of the software modules, focusing on the processing of signalsand communication between CAP CPU 264 and DCPU 270 is shown in FIG. 7.The software modules for the CAP CPU 264 and DCPU 270 include dispatcher484, processing 486 and communications 488, each of which performslike-named functions, as well as supporting database 490 access.Processing within the CAP CPU 264 is controlled by the dispatcher 484software module which may generate processing commands based on usercommand (e.g., do something now), schedule events (e.g., do something atnoon) or based on the occurrence of other events (e.g., do somethingwhen the database is updated). The dispatcher 484 sends messages to theprocessing software module 486 instructing it to process informationwithin the database 490 and generate control information for the DCPU270. For example, based on the updating of information associated with aparticular headend 208, the dispatcher 484 may command the CAP CPU 264to regenerate headend 208 parameters, perform any required databaseintegrity checking and send them to the DCPU 270. Also, in the case ofheadend 208 information processing, a filtering function (not shown) isperformed which eliminates any information that does not either directlyor indirectly relate to a given headend 208. Information transferbetween the CAP CPU 264 and the DCPU 270 is controlled by the DCPUcommunications software module 488.

Information received by the DCPU 270 from the CAP CPU 264 is processedat the DCPU processing module 496 and put into a form consistent withthe DCPU 270. Some of this information is used for DCPU control, whilemost is data to be integrated into the program control informationsignal 261. Some of this information is also used for miscellaneouscontrol 494 for such things as external multiplex equipment, sourcematerial generation hardware, transmission equipment and so on.Information destined for the program control information signal 261 maybe transmitted once or may be scheduled for periodic transmission. Thisinformation is integrated by the processing module 496 with otherinformation, both internal and external. The DCPU scheduler module 497is responsible for scheduling and regulating this data traffic. Also,the scheduler 497 may perform information filtering. For example,imbedded date/time information within the information records ofinterest can be used for filtering. External pass-through controlinformation 495 may also be incorporated into the program controlinformation signal 261 to provide external input to this digital datastream. The DCPU multiplexer 498 is responsible for multiplexingexternal pass-through control information. Finally, a transmissionsoftware module 499 in conjunction with appropriate communicationshardware (not shown), controls the output of both the program controlinformation signal 261 and the miscellaneous control signals 494.

FIG. 8 is a high level diagram of CAP software subroutines and theirinterrelations. A Main Program (not shown) orchestrates the use of thevarious subroutines as needed to perform the CAP's tasks. The PackagerData Entry Interface (PDEI) 400, Marketing Information Interface (MII)402, and Cable Franchise Information Access (CFIA) 404 subroutinesperform the interface functions between the CAP Main Program and outsidedata or information. The remaining subroutines shown in the centercolumn of FIG. 8 perform the processing and manipulations necessary tothe functioning of the CAP 260.

The Packager Data Entry Interface (PDEI) 400 subroutine includesroutines that enable the Packager to interactively enter programselections 410, start times of programs 412, price setting 414,transponder allocation 416, and menu editing 418. The PDEI subroutine400 controls the keyboard and mouse data entry by the packager and runsin concert with the processing and editing subroutines described later.

The Marketing Information Interface (MII) 402 subroutine interfaces theprocessing and editing subroutines with marketing data. This interfaceregularly receives programs watched information from billing sites 420,cable headends 208, or set top terminals 220. In addition, othermarketing information 422 such as the demographics of viewers duringcertain time periods may be received by the MII 402. The MII 402 alsouses algorithms 424 to analyze the program watched information andmarketing data 420,422, and provides the analyzed information to theprocessing and editing subroutines. In the preferred embodiment, anExecutive Information System (EIS) with a yield management subsystem isincluded in the MII subroutine as described above.

The Cable Franchise Information Access (CFIA) 404 subroutine receivesinformation on cable franchises, as represented at block 426, such asthe particular equipment used in a cable headend 208, the number of settop terminals 220 within a cable franchise, groupings of set topterminals 220 on concatenated cable systems 210, distribution of“high-end” cable subscribers, etc. The CFIA 404 generates a cablefranchise control signal 428 which is integrated with the programcontrol information 276 output to generate cable headend 208 specificinformation to be transmitted. The integration algorithm foraccomplishing this resides within the Generator subroutine describedherein below.

The process program line-up subroutine 430 uses information from the MII404 and PDEI 400 to develop a program line-up. Importance weightingalgorithms and best fit time algorithms are used to assign programs intime slots.

The process menu configurations subroutine 432 determines appropriatemenu formats to be used and positions programs on menu screens.Information from the MII 404 and PDEI 400 are used to determine programpositions on menus.

The menu display algorithms 434 displays menus as the menus would beseen by the viewer on a large CRT or color monitor.

The editing of menus subroutine 436 works with the menu displayalgorithm and PDEI 400 to allow the packager to edit menus on-the-flyduring viewing of the menus.

The graphical transponder allocation display 438 sends informationobtained from the CFIA 404 and PDEI 400 to create graphical displaysenabling the packager to comprehend the allocation of transponder spaceacross the entire television delivery system 200.

In a manner similar to the display and editing of menus represented atblocks 434, 436, the packager may utilize the editing transponderallocation subroutine 440 to interactively reallocate assignment oftransponder space. In the preferred embodiment, the EIS with yieldmanagement may be used by the packager to assist in decisions onallocating transponder space.

The generator subroutine 442 creates the program control informationsignal for output. The Generator subroutine receives the cable franchisecontrol signal and uses this signal to help create a custom signal foreach cable headend 208.

The Packaging Routine 448 obtains and packages the programs, along withthe program control information signal 216, for transmission to thetransponders.

With continued reference to FIGS. 7, 8 and 9, the general software flowof the operations center 202 is depicted. The flow can be broken up intomodules that apply to parts of the database to allow viewing, editing,and adding records to the database. The software also accomplishesdatabase integrity checking by restricting the user to enter only validdata, and by checking for conflicts.

FIG. 9 shows some of the software involved in the creation of programs,events and services. This creation occurs prior to or during theprocessing of the program line-up 430 shown in FIG. 8. With reference toFIG. 9, a first step is indicated generally at 461 and includesacquiring source materials for program production at the operationscenter 202 (e.g., tape production). Once the source materials arecollected 460, and entered into the database “D”, they can be used tocreate programs 462. These programs are made up of source ‘cuts’ fromvarious video/audio source materials. Once the programs have beengenerated and entered into the database “D”, events, collections of oneor more programs, are created 464. Each event is then schedule onto aservice 466, with the software checking for conflicts. Each service isgiven run times, and days, and checked for conflicts. Once the servicesand events have been created, the event names can be added to the menus468. The programs for the events and services may be stored at theoperations center (as shown in FIG. 11 at 286). Processing andmanipulation of the events or records is depicted generally at 463.

The packager user interface (a portion of 463) for each of the creationmodules works substantially identically to each of the other modules tomake the interface easy to use and learn. The packager user interfacesforms a portion of the PDEI 400 shown on FIG. 8. The browse system 470is entered first and allows viewing of records, and selection ofspecific records. The database can be ‘populated’ by selection of abutton, which activates a populate screen. As represented at block 471,this allows details to be deleted, added or changed for events,programs, and sources. The browse screen also allows access to the editscreen 472, where fields in a selected record can be modified, withconflicts or errors, in scheduling for example, being checkedcontinuously, as at 473 and 474.

In use, the operations center 202 of the present invention performs avariety of management functions which can be broken out into fiveprimary areas: (1) cable headend 208 management, (2) program sourcemanagement, (3) broadcast program management, (4) internal programstorage and management, and (5) marketing, management and customerinformation. A relational database, such as that represented by FIG. 10,can be used to maintain the data associated with these areas.

Customer billing is not included in any of the above five areas for theoperations center 202. Although billing can be handled by the operationscenter 202 (as shown in the database structure 508, 511), it ispreferred that billing is handled at a remote location throughtraditional channels and methods (such as Cable TV billing provided byTelecorp corporation). Extracts of customer purchases will be providedto the operations center 202. These extracts of information will beformatted and correlated with customer demographics for marketingpurposes by the Marketing Information Interface (MII) 402.

(1) Cable Headend Management

Management of the cable headend 208 includes the following activities:defining the cable headend site; profiling the viewers; determiningavailable set top equipment; defining the concatenated cable systemsconnected to the cable headend site. This information may be stored ascable franchise information within the operations center 202 database bythe Cable Franchise Information Access routine 404. Such information canbe compiled and maintained in a relational database (described below andshown as 328 in FIG. 11).

(2) Program Source Management

Source programs will be provided by a variety of networks. Informationfrom the contractual records to the actual program tapes should bemaintained and includes: tracking of property rights; tracking andprofiling source tapes; profiling source providers. A relationaldatabase (such as “D” shown in FIG. 9) can be used, for example, thatidentifies and correlates programs sources. Programs may be receivedfrom various rights holders, and such a database would track the personor entity that owns the rights to each program at issue. Other datacould be maintained relating to program cuts (a program cut is a portionof a program) that specifies, for example, the program from which thecut is taken. Information relating to time slot allocations, menuentries, and categories, and channel assignments are also maintained inthe relational database.

Program services represents a purchasable time slice which is occupiedby a type of programming. Each time slice has multiple time constraints.Using the purchasing of through time slices allows for greatflexibility. An infinite number of program and time slice combinationsare possible. Preferably, services are created using the software shownin FIG. 9, particularly the service creation routine 466. For a serviceto become available at a cable headend 208 site, it is mapped to thesite. At the time of mapping the program service is assigned a programchannel.

Program services are defined by the following fields:

Service ID System generated unique ID Description Describes the service.The description will allow the packager to easily assign a service to abroadcast program. Type Defines the type of service. Current servicetypes include YCTV ™, Grid, Network and Other. Network ID Relevant fornetwork services. (examples: ABC, NBC, DISC ™) Broadcast Event Relevantfor a YCTV ™ service. Identifies the current YCTV ™ broadcast eventassigned to the service. PICON File Name of the picture icon (PICON)assigned to the service. This picon is displayed for example on the buyscreen for a pay per view event. Expiration Date Expiration date of theservice. Removes the service from the service selection list. Day StartEach service is a series of days within a week. This represents thestarting day. (example: Monday) Day Stop Represents the last day in theinterval. Time Start Within a day, the service has a time period. Thisfield represents the start of the period. Time Stop Represents the endof the time period. Required Tape If stored tapes are required, thenumber of tapes required by the service.

(3) Broadcast Program Management

Broadcast program management is one focal point of the data managementsystem. The issues of product, price, promotion and packaging areaddressed at this level. Decisions in these areas will affect the actualprogramming that will be shown to the viewers. Information ondescription of the content of each program event, program scheduling,broadcast program pricing, TV/set top information flow and informationon how broadcast programs will be mapped to viewer channels should beincluded in the database. Preferably, the EIS system described belowwill access this data and assist in the Broadcast Program Management.

(4) Internal Program Management

Information on internally stored programs at the operations center 202should also be maintained. This will allow the operations center 202 toassemble electronically stored programs, CD stored programs and programtapes, and ensure the quality of programs and location of programs.

(5) Marketing and Customer Information

Last, and important, marketing and customer information should bemaintained. In order to effectively manage the operations, informationis constantly needed on market conditions. Information is needed on theexistence of markets for certain programs. The following type ofinformation must be maintained in a Marketing and Customer Informationdata base: demographic profile of viewers, viewer buy information;correlation of demographic information with buy information, informationrapid restructuring of program mix in response to data analysis. As asubscriber uses the system, this viewer information or viewer log datacan be stored and maintained in relational database. The MarketingInformation Interface 402 gathers the marketing information and indexesthe information for inclusion in the Marketing and Customer Informationdatabase. An example of the type of information that is needed in thisdata base is a viewer profile.

The viewer profile data fields are an example of typical fields requiredin the databases. Definitions of various fields are listed below. Theprimary purpose of profiling the viewer is to acquire marketinginformation on the viewer's response to available selections. Ancillaryinformation will be available including the actual program and channelselections of the viewer. Information tracked within the viewer'sprofile includes:

Viewer ID A unique identifier generated by the system. Set-Top TypesBoolean field which identifies the type of set top used. Headend IDLinks the viewer to a particular cable site. Site Assigned ID Viewer IDassigned by the cable site. Set-Top ID ID of the viewer's set top.Hookup Date Date physical hardware is connected. Survey Date Ademographic profile will be conducted on each user. The following fieldsrepresent this demographic information. The data represents when theinterview survey was completed. Viewers Age 2-5 Boolean field if thehousehold has viewers between 2 and 5 years of age. Viewers Age 6-11Boolean field if the household has viewers between 6 and 11 years ofage. Viewers Age 12-17 Boolean field if the household has viewersbetween 12 and 17 years of age. Tape Rental $ Approximate amount spenton tape rentals on a monthly basis. PPV $ Household average pay-pre-viewexpenditures per month. Income Annual household income. Zip CodeSelf-explanatory. Cable Tier Level of cable service purchased. Number ofTV's Self-Explanatory. Years with Cable Self-Explanatory. OccupancyNumber of people in household. Highest Education Highest level ofeducation of any member of the household.

The compilation of viewer demographic information has an impact ondecisions based on marketing. The names of the heads of household arenot used due to Privacy Act considerations. Completion of demographicdata can be accomplished referencing the cable site assigned ID or thesystem generated ID. There are numerous variations to the fielddefinitions listed above such as different age groupings.

To maintain the database at the operations center 202, a data baseserver, communications server, user work station or stations 262, or thesuitable equivalent thereof, are needed. The database server performsthe following functions: it is the repository for data base files, eventlogging, event scheduling (example, automated download of files toheadends 208), multi-user services, data base server services, and database security access.

The communications server performs the following functions on data basedata: integrity check, filtering, processing, downloading to headends208, uploading from headends 208, and uploading from remote location.

User work stations 262 perform the following tasks: creation, deletionand access of all database data, system administration and reportgeneration. Database manipulations are performed through the userworkstations or remotely. The database structure is designed to supportmultiple users performing multiple tasks simultaneously. The preferredembodiment includes a network of user workstations 262. The workstations262, through user interface software, access data within database fileson the database server.

For example, once the appropriate database data has been generated fordownloading to a cable headend 208, the communications server isinstructed to perform the download. Although this may be done manuallyat the communications server, it is preferred that the communicationsserver automatically send information to the cable headends 208. Thecommunications server retrieves required data from the database server,filters out any data not associated with the specified headend 208, andperforms data integrity checks, creates data files to be downloaded andthen downloads the data file via modem (or other means such as the DCPU270). While the communication server is connected with the headend 208,it also requests any data that the headend might be holding for theoperations center 202. This may consist of cable headend 208 event loginformation, set top billing and viewer log data on programs watched,etc.

The communications server may also assist in retrieving information fromother remote sites such as remote billing and statistic sites. Forexample, if a location is being used for billing purposes, thecommunications server may retrieve viewer log data. Also, thecommunications server may retrieve billing and viewer log data fromactual set top converters in the field. Once the data is retrieved it issent to the database server. Thus, in the preferred embodiment thecommunications server will support incoming information via modem orotherwise.

The basic database structure at the operations center 202 consists ofmultiple tables. Database data tables contain one or more data records,each with multiple fields. Each field contains a piece of data about theparticular record. This data may be general information, such as anumeric value, date or text string, or it may be a reference to anotherdatabase record relating one piece of data to another. Database indexfiles contain information about associated data files to allow forimproved data retrieval. The database index file makes retrieval ofinformation much quicker.

In an alternative embodiment where some television programming beginswith the procurement of source material in the form of tapes or CDs,additional data about the tapes or CDs may be stored in the operationscenter database. Each tape or CD may have a database record associatedwith it, source tape data file. Each tape may contain multiple cuts ofwhich each cut has an associated record in a source tape detailed datafile. Additionally, a company data file may contain individual recordsfor the rights of the holders of the source tapes as well as companyinformation about cable headends 208. In this alternative embodimentwith tapes, programs may be created from multiple tapes using multipletape source cuts. The programs created by these source cuts may bestored and the individual cuts that make up the programs may be storedin a database record called “program tape detail.” Events may be createdthat consist of more than one program and details on individual programsthat make up these events may be stored in a database file called “eventdetail.” Using this embodiment, events may be sold to subscribers.

FIG. 10 and the description below is a more complete example of adatabase structure that can be used with the present invention. Eachdatabase file is listed below along with a description, record fielddetails and explanation of relationships. The software data structuresare defined after the description of the database structure.

The SCHEDULE Database file 501 contains scheduling data for a singleday. There are many schedule files, one for each day of scheduleinformation. The actual filename for a given days schedule is assignedunder computer control. Schedules are broken up into single days so theymay be easily created, dispatched and archived. A cross-reference ofdays to computer generated filenames is kept. Each scheduled event(either a program or a preview) has its own record entry and uniqueschedule ID This record references the corresponding scheduled programor preview and program type (either program or preview). The service tocarry the scheduled program is also referenced. The starting date andtime is also specified. Program duration is stored as a programattribute and is not included here. Note that program, preview andservice records must be provisioned before they may be referenced in aschedule record.

Another SCHEDULE Database file 500 contains a cross-reference ofstarting dates data to computer generated filenames.

The PROGRAM Database file 502 contains Program records are contained inanother database file 502, with each record representing a sourceprogram. Each program has a unique program ID. If the program has acorresponding preview, it is also referenced. Program category and priceare also referenced. The structure of the program category database maybe modified if multiple categories per program are desired. Programname, description and duration are also given. Note that preview,program category and price category records must be provisioned beforethey may be referenced in a program record.

The SERVICE Database file 503 contains service records with each recordrepresenting an available service. A service may be thought of as avirtual video channel. Virtual channels are non-existent channels whichare mapped or created by hardware and software and is described inco-pending patent application Ser. No. 08/160,194, entitled ADVANCED SETTOP TERMINAL FOR A CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEM, incorporated hereinby reference. Services are then mapped into local headend channels.Since initial distribution of video source material may be by “FederalExpress” instead of a video channel, a service ID is used to identifythe virtual channel being used for the desired service. “60 Minutes”could be distributed and then be mapped into any desired local headendchannel. The service database exists at both the national site and ateach local headend 208. Every service has a name, call letters and adescription of the service. Every service also has an assigned localchannel, “A” tape (or CD) machine ID and “B” tape (or CD) machine ID.Note that these last three parameters only apply to the servicedatabases at the local headends 208. The local headend service databaseperforms an equivalent function of a “channel map.” For a furtherdescription of the cable headend function, see co-pending patentapplication Ser. No. 08/735,549, entitled NETWORK CONTROLLER FOR A CABLETELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEM, filed by the same assignee.

The PREVIEW Database file 504 contains preview records with each recordrepresenting a source preview. A preview is like a program that isscheduled and distributed over a service. It differs from a program inthat multiple previews may be distributed over the same service at thesame time. Also, previews are free. Each preview specifies its locationon the TV screen. This is generally done by selecting from a menu ofvalid screen positions. Unlike programs, previews do not referenceprogram and price categories or other previews.

The PROGRAM CATEGORY Database file 505 contains program category recordswith each record representing a valid program category. Examples ofprogram categories are movies, sports, educational and news. Multipleprogram categories per program may be accommodated if desired withsimple changes to the database structure.

The PRICE CATEGORY Database file 506 contains price category recordswith each record representing a valid price category. Price categoriesare used to provide pricing consistency throughout the system. It alsoprovides flexibility at the headend 208 to price various categoriesdifferently should this be desired. For example, distributed movies maybe assigned the price category “movie” at the national site. Eachheadend 208 could then charge differing amounts for their movies bymanipulating their local price category database. If a current pricestructure needed to be changed, the change would be made once in theprice category database instead of in each program record.

The EVENT LOG Database file 510 contains event data for a single day.There are many event files, one for each day of event information. Theactual filename for a given days events is assigned under computercontrol. Events are broken up into single days so they may be easilyarchived. A cross-reference of days to computer generated filenames iskept.

Each event record contains a unique ID, an event code, ID of the processthat generated the event and date/time stamp of the event.

The EVENT LOG FILENAME Database file 507 contains a cross-reference ofstart date to computer generated filenames.

The VIEWER LOG Database file 512 contains viewer log data for a singleday. There are many viewer log files, one for each day of viewer loginformation. The actual filename for a given days viewer log data isassigned under computer control. Viewer log data is broken up intosingle days so it may be easily archived. A cross-reference of days tocomputer generated filenames is kept.

Each event record contains a unique ID, an event code, ID of the processthat generated the event and date/time stamp of the event. The MarketingInformation Interface 402 accesses the VIEWER LOG Database file asnecessary to retrieve “program watched” information 420.

The VIEWER LOG FILENAME Database file 509 contains a cross-reference ofdate to computer generated filenames.

The BILLING Database file 511 contains billing data for a single day.There are many billing files, one for each day of billing information.The actual filename for a given days billing data is assigned undercomputer control. Billing data is broken up into single days so it maybe easily archived. A cross-reference of days to computer generatedfilenames is kept.

Each event record contains a unique ID, an event code, ID of the processthat generated the event and date/time stamp of the event.

The BILLING FILENAME Database file 508 contains a cross-reference ofstart date to computer generated filenames.

The NEWS FILENAME Database file 509 contains a cross-reference of dateto computer generated filenames.

The SET TOP Database file 517 contains set top converter records witheach record representing a unique set top converter. Each set top isassigned to a headend 208. Set-top type, software version and serialnumber is also stored. Note that headend records must be provisionedbefore they may be referenced in a set top record.

The HEAD END Database file 518 contains headend records with each recordcontaining headend 208 data specific to a single headend 208. Eachheadend 208 has a name, contact name, address, phone number, modeminformation, time zone (relative to GMT) and daylight savings time flag.This information may be stored in a separate database file called CableFranchise Configuration (shown as 328 in FIG. 11).

The NATIONAL Database file 515 contains a single record containingnational site information. This includes site name, contact, modeminformation, time zone and daylight savings time flag.

The CUSTOMER Database file 516 contains customer records with eachrecord containing customer data specific to a single customer. Thisincludes personal information (name, address, phone number, . . . ) andassigned set top converter.

The TAPE MACHINE Database file 519 contains video tape or CD machineinformation. Each machine is assigned a unique ID, its control portaddress, its A/B switch address (if present), its assigned service andan A/B assignment. This database is only located at the headends 208.

The MESSAGE Database file 514 contains available system messages. Theyare detailed in nature and are pre-programmed. Each message has anassociated function. To schedule a desired function, the appropriatemessage is referenced in the scheduler task list.

The TASK Database file 513 contains scheduled tasks to be performedperiodically. It is used in conjunction with a scheduler process tocontrol computer system functions such as data dispatch and retrieval,archival and database maintenance. Each task is assigned a unique ID,start time, stop time, period in minutes) and task type (single,periodic, round-robin). Functions are actually scheduled by schedulingthe appropriate message to be sent to the appropriate process. Availablemessages are kept in a separate database. Note that these messages mustbe provisioned before they may be referenced in a task record.

F. System Operations

FIG. 11 shows the basic operations that must occur in order for thepackaged signal to be sent to the satellite 206. External digital 280and analog signals 282 must be received from television programmingsources and converted to a standard digital format by a converter 284,as described above. Also within the operations center 202, storedprograms 286 must be accessed using banks of looping tape machines orother video storage/retrieval devices, either analog or digital, andconverted to a standard digital format by the converter 284 prior to useby the CAP 260.

The programmer or program packager utilizing the CAP 260 must input avariety of information, including program information, in order to allowthe CAP 260 to perform its function of generating program controlinformation and packaging programs. Some of the information required bythe CAP 260 are the date, time slots and program categories desired bythe television programmer.

The CAP 260 system includes one or more CPUs and one or moreprogrammer/packager consoles, together identified in FIG. 4 asworkstations 262. In the preferred embodiment, each packager consoleincludes one or more CRT screens, a keyboard, a mouse (or cursormovement), and standard video editing equipment. In large operationscenters 202, multiple packager consoles 262 may be needed for the CAP260.

As shown in FIG. 12, the first step in the operation of the CAP 260 isselecting the type of programming 300 which will be packaged. Basicallythere are six broad categories in which most television programming canbe classified: static programming 302, interactive services 304, pay perview 306, live sports specials 308, mini pays 310, and data services312. Static programs are programs which will show repetitively over aperiod of time such as a day or week. Static programs include moviesshowing repetitively on movie channels, children's programs,documentaries, news, entertainment. Program services, with defined startand end time periods, behave like static programs and may be handled ina similar manner.

Interactive services 304 typically include interactive programs usingthe Vertical Blanking Interval (VBI) or other data streams synchronizedwith the programming to communicate interactive features (such as thoseused in education), and games. Using this feature, interactive homeshopping programs are possible. Pay per view 306 are programs which areindividually ordered by the subscriber. After ordering, the subscriberis authorized to access the program for a limited time, (e.g. threehours, two days, etc.). Live sports specials are live events usuallyrelated to sports which subscribers are unlikely to watch on tapeddelay.

Mini pays 310 are channels to which existing set top converter boxes(not shown) and the set top terminals 220 of the present invention maysubscribe. The subscriptions for mini pays 310 may be daily, weekly, ormonthly. An example would be the Science Fiction channel. Data services312 are services in which information is interactively presented to thesubscriber using a modem or other high rate of speed data transfer. Someexamples are Prodigy, services for airline reservations, and TV guideservices (e.g. TV Guide X*PRESS™, InSight™, etc.). Data could alsoinclude classified or other forms of advertising.

The packager begins the CAP processing using the Packager Data EntryInterface Software 400 and a workstation 262. After selecting the typeof programming, the packager must identify a pool of programs (within acategory) to be packaged. The next CAP step varies for different programcategories. For the category of live sports 308, additional programinterstitial elements 314 such as promos and other sports news may beadded before further processing. For the live sports 308, static (orprogram service) 302, interactive services 304 and pay per view 306categories, the next CAP 260 step is for one television program to beselected 316. This is followed by each program individually beingassigned dates to be played, a start date (for continuous play) andstart times 318. Many dates and start times may be assigned to any givenprogram. Using this methodology, programs may be purchased by viewers intime slices (e.g., one week). The program information for thesecategories may then be processed for allocation of transponder space andsetting of prices, as indicated at blocks 320, 322, respectively.

Mini pays 310 and data services 312 require less processing by the CAP260. After identifying the mini pays 310, the CAP 260 may proceed toallocation of transponder space and pricing, block 320, for the minipays 310. Data services in the preferred embodiment generally do notrequire allocation of transponder space and generally do not requireprice setting. The information for data services 312 may be directlyprocessed for menu configuration, block 324. In alternate embodiments,the data services 312 may be processed through these portions of the CAP260 program.

The CAP 260 uses an interactive algorithm 416 to allocate transponderspace 320 and set prices 322. The factors weighed by the algorithmare: 1. buy rates of the program, 2. margin of profit on the program, 3.length of the program, 4. any contractual requirement which overridesother factors (such as requirement to run a specific football game livein its entirety). The information on buy rates of the program may beobtained by the Marketing Information Interface 400 from a CentralStatistical and Billing Site, a Regional Statistical and Billing Site,the cable headend 208 or directly from the set top terminals 220 as willbe described later. The CAP 260 must consider the priority levels ofprogramming (e.g., FIG. 16) when allocating transponder space.Particularly, as in the preferred embodiment, transponders are assignedto three specific priority levels. The CAP may automatically (withoutpackager intervention) access the MII 400 and the EIS to obtainnecessary decision making information on transponder allocation.

Following transponder allocation and price setting 320,322,respectively, the CAP 260 proceeds to menu configuration 324. Thepositioning of programs within the menu configuration 324 can have aneffect on subscriber buy rates for the program. (The processing of menuconfigurations 432 is also described in reference to FIG. 8.) Therefore,an algorithm accounting for either a manually assigned programimportance or a calculated weight of the program importance is used todetermine each programs position within the menu scheme. For instance, apopular program with a high profit margin may be assigned a high weightof importance and shown in a prominent place in the menu scheme.Alternatively, a high profit program with sagging sales may be manuallyassigned a prominent place in the program schedule to increase sales.

After a series of entries by the programmer/packager at the operationscenter 202, the CAP 260 displays draft menus 434 or schedules (includingpriority levels) for programming. The packager may now manipulate themenus and schedules and make changes as necessary 436. After eachchange, the packager may again display the menus or schedules anddetermine if any more changes are necessary 436. The packager may usethe Executive Information System with yield management as describedbelow to assist in editing the menus and schedules. When the packager issatisfied with the menu configuration 324 and scheduling of televisionprograms, the packager may then instruct the CAP 260 to complete theprocess.

After menu configuration 324, the CAP 260 may begin the process ofgenerating a program control information signal 326 (see also FIG. 8software description at 442 and 404). In order to generate programcontrol information signals 326 which are specific to a particular cableheadend 208 system, the CAP 260 incorporates cable franchiseconfiguration information 328. In the preferred embodiment, unique cablefranchise configuration information 328 is stored at the operationscenter 202. The cable franchises upload changes to their specificfranchise information 426 from time to time to the operations center 202for storage 328. Preferably, a separate CPU (not shown) handles themanagement of the cable franchise information 328. From the stored cablefranchise information 328, the CAP 260 generates a cable franchisecontrol information signal 330 unique to each franchise.

Using the unique cable franchise control information signals 328 and themenu configuration 324 information, the CAP 260 generates the programcontrol information signal 276, as shown at function block 326. Theprogram control information that is unique to a particular cablefranchise may be identified in various ways such as with a header. Withthe header identification, the cable headend 208 may extract theportions of the program control information signal 276 it needs. Now,the CAP 260 may complete its process by electronically packaging theprograms into groupings 280 for the signal transmission and adding theprogram control information 276 to the packaged programs 334 to form asingle signal for transmission. Through manual entries by the packager(PDEI 400) or by comparing against a list of programs, the CAP 260 willdetermine whether the programs are arriving from external sources 280 orsources internal 286 to the operations center 202.

Referring back to FIG. 11, upon completion of the CAP's functions, theoperations center 202, or the uplink site 204 (FIG. 1), compresses 288(if necessary), multiplexes 290, modulates 292 and amplifies 294 thesignal for satellite transmission 296. In a basic embodiment, the CAP260 will also allow entry of time slots for local avails where nonational programming will occur.

FIG. 13 is a more detailed flow chart 340 of some of the functionsperformed by the CAP 260 after an initial program schedule has beenentered and menu configurations generated. This flow chart highlightsthat some of the functions described earlier in reference to FIGS. 8, 9,11 and 12 can be performed in parallel. The flow chart 340 shows sixbasic functions that are performed by the CAP 260: (1) editing programschedule for local availability 342 (only for non-standard services,i.e., those services that are not national cable services); (2)generating program control information signals 344; (3) processingexternal programs 346; (4) processing internal programs 348; (5)processing live feeds 350; and, (6) packaging of program information352. In an alternate embodiment, the CAP 260 is capable of incorporatinglocal programs and accommodating local availability for local televisionstations.

Following completion of the programming scheduling (accounting for localavailability if necessary) and menu generation 342, the CAP 260 mayperform three tasks simultaneously, generating program informationsignals 344, processing external programs 346 and processing internalprograms 348.

The CAP 260 automatically identifies external programs feeds 356 andidentifies which external feed to request the external program 358. TheCAP 260 gathers and receives the external programming information 280,282 (FIG. 11) and converts it to a standard digital format 360 for use.The CAP 260 also identifies internal programs 362 (and defined programservices), accesses the internal programs 364 (and program services),and converts them to a standard digital format 366, if necessary. Inaddition, the CAP 260 identifies live signal feeds 368 that will benecessary to complete the packaged programming signal 370. In its lasttask depicted in FIG. 13 the CAP 260 completes the packaging of theprograms and combines the packaged program signal with the programcontrol information signal 352, amplifies the signal 354 and sends itout for further processing prior to uplink.

G. Allocation of Cable System Bandwidth

One of the primary tasks of the operations center 202 is, withassistance from the cable headends 208, effective utilization ofavailable bandwidth from the operations center 202 to the subscriberhomes. FIG. 14 shows effective allocation of 750 MHZ of bandwidth (I MHZto 750 MHZ) for television programming. In FIG. 14, bandwidth isallocated for both analog 226 and digitally compressed 227 signals. Inthe preferred embodiment, the bandwidth is divided so that each categoryof programs receives a portion of the bandwidth. These categoriescorrespond with major menus of the set top terminal software. Therepresentative categories shown in FIG. 14 include: (1) high definitionTV (HDTV) made possible through the use of compression technology, (2) ALa Carte Channel category which provides specialty channels forsubscription periods such as monthly, and (3) pay-per-view.

FIG. 15 shows a chart 228 of compressed channel allocation for a varietyof programming categories 229 that have been found to be desirable tosubscribers. By grouping similar shows or a series of shows into blocksof channels 230, the system 200 is able to more conveniently displaysimilar programming with on-screen television menus. For example, in themovie category, which has the greatest allocation of channels, the samemovie may be shown continuously and simultaneously on differentchannels. Each channel starts the movie at a different time allowing thesubscriber to choose a more suitable movie starting time (e.g., every 15minutes).

In order to accommodate cable TV systems that have different bandwidthsand channel capacities, the television programming and televisionprogram control information may be divided into parts such as priorityone, two and three. The large bandwidth cable TV systems can accommodateall the parts of the television programming and all parts of thetelevision programming control information. Those cable TV systems witha more limited bandwidth are able to use the program delivery system 200by only accepting the number of parts that the cable system can handlewithin its bandwidth.

For instance, as is shown in FIG. 16, three cable television systemswith different bandwidths may use the program delivery system 200simultaneously with each system accepting only those parts of theinformation sent which it is capable of handling. Priority onetelevision programming and menus 240 are accepted by all three systems.Priority two television programming and menus 242 are not accepted bythe cable television system whose capacity is the smallest or in thiscase 330 MHZ (40 channels) system. Priority two television programmingand menus 242 are accepted and used by the two larger capacity cabletelevision systems shown. Priority three television programming andmenus 244 are only used by the largest capacity television system whichis capable of handling all three parts—Priority one, two and threeprogramming and menu information.

With this division of television programming and menus, the programdelivery system 200 may be utilized simultaneously by a variety ofconcatenated cable systems 210 (depicted in FIG. 1) with varying systemcapacities. By placing the heavily watched or more profitableprogramming and menus in the priority one division 240, both users andowners of the cable TV systems will be accommodated as best as possiblewithin the limited bandwidth.

FIG. 17 shows three different cable headend 208 systems, each systemreceiving the entire satellite signal from the operations center 202 andstripping those parts of the signal which cannot be handled by the localcable system due to bandwidth limitations. In this particularembodiment, the three local cable television systems shown havebandwidth limitations which correspond with the bandwidth limitationsdepicted in the previous FIG. 16. As the bandwidth decreases, theprogramming options available to the viewer in the exemplary on-screenmenu decreases. Using this preferred embodiment, the operations center202 is able to send one identical signal to the satellite 206 that issent to all the cable headends 208. Each cable headend 208 accepts theentire signal and customizes the signal for the local cable system bystripping those portions of the operations center signal that are unableto be handled by the local cable system. An alternate embodiment (notshown) requires the operations center 202 (and uplink sites 204) to senddifferent signals for reception by different capacity cable headends208.

There are several ways in which a cable headend 208 may strip theunnecessary signal from the operations center 202. A person skilled inthe art will derive many methods from the three examples discussedbelow. The first method is for the signal originating from theoperations center 202 (and uplink site 204) to be sent in portions witheach portion having a separate header. The respective cable headend 208would then recognize the headers and transmit to the concatenated cablesystem 210 only those signals in which the proper headers areidentified. For example, using three concatenated cable systems shown inFIG. 17, the headers may be “001,” “002,” and “003.” A wide bandwidthconcatenated cable system can accept program signals with all threeheaders, while the narrowest bandwidth concatenated cable system mayonly be able to accept signals with a “001” header. For this firstmethod, a central operations center 202 must divide the program signalinto three parts and send a separate leading header before each signalfor each part. This method requires has the additional signal overheadof a header on the program signal. The header would be transmitted fromtime to time as necessary.

A second method requires a set of transponders to be assigned to eachpriority level and the cable headend 208 to route signals from thetransponders corresponding to the proper priority level for theconcatenated cable system 210. For example, if there are three prioritylevels and eighteen transponders, transponders one through nine may beassigned to priority level one, transponders ten through fourteenpriority level two, and transponders fifteen through eighteen assignedto priority level three. Thus, a concatenated cable system 210 capableof operating only at priority level two, would only receive signals fromtransponders one through nine, and ten through fourteen from therespective cable headend 208. The program signal from transpondersfifteen through eighteen would not be transmitted to the priority leveltwo concatenated cable system. This method requires the operationscenter 202 to properly assign programs to transponders by prioritylevel. This can be accomplished by the CAP using the software describedearlier (e.g., FIG. 8 at 438 and 440).

The third and the preferred method is for the cable headend 208 to pickand choose programming from each transponder and create a customizedpriority one, two, and three signal with chosen television programming.The cable headend 208 would then route the appropriate customized signalto each part of the concatenated cable system 210 that the cable headend208 serves. This third method requires that the cable headend 208 have acomponent, such as the combiner (described in greater detail in aco-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/160,283, entitled DIGITALCABLE HEADEND FOR A CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEM, owned by theassignee of the present application) which can select among programsprior to combining the signal for further transmission on a concatenatedcable system 210. The third method requires the least coordinationbetween operations center 202 and the cable headend 208.

In addition to dividing the television programming and menus into parts,the operations center 202 of the preferred embodiment is also capable ofdynamically changing the bandwidth allocation for a particular categoryof programming. FIG. 18 depicts this dynamic change in bandwidthallocation from a typical week day prime time signal 250 to a Saturdayafternoon in October signal 252 (during the college football season).FIG. 18 highlights the fact that the bandwidth allocated to sports islimited to eight selections 251 during week day prime time 250 but isincreased to sixteen selections 253 during a Saturday afternoon inOctober 252. This dynamic increase in bandwidth allocation allows thesystem to accommodate changes in programming occurring on an hourly,daily, weekly, monthly, seasonal and annual basis.

In addition to dynamically allocating bandwidth for programmingcategories, the operations center 202 can also dynamically change themenu capacities in order to accommodate the change in programming andbandwidth. For example, on a Saturday afternoon in October 252, themajor menu for sports may include a separate subcategory for collegefootball. This subcategory would, in turn, have a separate submenu witha listing of four, six, eight, or more college football games availablefor viewing. In order to accommodate this dynamic menu change, theoperations center 202 must add a submenu listing to the major sportsmenu, create a new or temporary submenu for college football, andallocate the necessary menu space on the college football submenu.

Once the television programs have been packaged and a program controlinformation signal is generated to describe the various categories andprograms available, the packaged programs are then digitized,compressed, and combined with the program control information signal.Upon the signal's departure from the operations center 202 the breakdowninto categories is insignificant and the signal is treated like anyother digitally compressed signal

H. Compressing and Transmitting Program Signals

After packaging, the packaged television program signal is prepared forsatellite transmission and sent from the operations center 202 to thecable headend 208 via satellite 206. Depending on the specificembodiment, the television program signal may need to be compressed,combined/multiplexed, encoded, mapped, modulated, up converted andamplified. This system, which is intended to be compatible with existingC and Ku Band satellite transmission technologies, accepts video, audioand data signals ranging in signal quality, and input from a number ofsources.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the preferred embodiment, the packaged programsignal will be treated at a master control uplink site 211 prior tobeing transmitted to the satellite 206. Following compression thechannels must be multiplexed for each transponder carrier and sent tothe satellite 206 dish that will provide the uplink. A variety ofmultiplexing schemes may be used in the system. In some situations, itmay be advantageous to use different multiplexing schemes in differentparts of the overall system. In other words, one multiplexing scheme maybe used for satellite transmission 206 and a second remultiplexingscheme for the land transmission. Various satellite multi-accessingschemes and architectures can be used with the system, including bothsingle channel per carrier (SCPC) frequency division multiplex (FDM) andmultiple channel per carrier (MCPC) time division multiplexing (TDM).Time division multiplexing is the more desirable scheme.

Once the signal has arrived at the uplink or master control site 211, itmust be modulated, up converted, and amplified. Various types ofsatellites and transponders capable of handling digital signals may beused in this cable television packaging and delivery system. One of theachievements of the present invention is effective utilization ofdigital compression technology by packaging television programs intocategories that allow easy access to television programs by consumers.With current digital compression techniques for video, the typical50-channel capacity cable satellite receiving system can be increased to300 channels.

Presently, one transponder is used for each satellite delivered channel.The preferred embodiment uses 18 satellite transponders and compressionratios of 4:1 to 8:1 to achieve a capacity of 136 satellite deliveredchannels. More transponders or higher compression ratios can be used todeliver up to the channel capacity of any existing cable system.

An example of a satellite that may be used is the AT&T Telstar 303. Thesignal is transmitted from the satellite 206 to the cable headend 208where a computer system including a digital switch treats the signal anddelivers it through cables to a subscriber's home. In alternateembodiments, multiple operations center 202 and multiple uplink sites211 can be simultaneously utilized.

In order to limit the amount of bandwidth needed to transmit the programcontrol information signal, various compression techniques employed fornon-video may be used such as block coding, contour coding, blobencoding, and run-length encoding. Further, the program controlinformation signal may be divided into text and graphics, or video, textand graphics and then recombined at the set top terminal 220 using atext generator, graphics decompression, and video decompression asnecessary.

As shown in FIG. 2, an analog cable TV system 205 can continue to existalongside and within the digitally compressed system of the presentinvention. The digital transmissions do not effect the analog system. Infact, the analog cable signal may be transmitted simultaneously on thesame cable as the digital signal. Cable headends 208 may continue tosupply subscribers with local channels in an analog signal format.

In the preferred embodiment, the operations center 202 and uplink 204(FIG. 1) or master control site 211 (FIG. 3) are collocated. However,the operations center 202 and uplink site 204 may be located indifferent geographical places. Also, functions and equipment within theoperations center 202 may be remotely located. For instance, the programstorage may be at a different site and the programs may be sent to theCAP 260 via landline.

Alternate embodiments of the system 200 of the present invention may usemultiple operations centers described above. In such an embodiment, itis preferred that one operations center be designated the MasterOperations Center and all other operations centers be Slave OperationsCenters. The Master Operations Center performs the functions of managingand coordinating the Slave Operations Centers. Depending on the methodin which the Slave Operations Centers share functions, the MasterOperations Center coordination function may involve synchronization ofsimultaneous transmissions from multiple Slave Operations Centers. Toperform its functions, the Master Operations Center may include a systemclock for synchronization.

An efficient method of dividing tasks among multiple operations centersis to assign specific satellite transponders to each operations center202 and to assign external program sources to the nearest operationscenter 202. Of course, this division of resources may not always bepossible. Since programming will be grouped into priority levels witheach priority level likely to be assigned specific satellitetransponders, it is also possible to assign each operations center 202to a priority level. For example, in a three priority level system withtwo Slave Operations Centers A and B and 18 transponders, the MasterOperations Center may be assigned priority level 1 and assigned 9transponders. Slave Operations Center A may be assigned priority level 2and 5 transponders, while Slave Operations Center B is assigned prioritylevel 3 and 4 transponders. In a multiple operations centerconfiguration dynamic bandwidth allocation and dynamic menu capacityallocation becomes more complex and will be coordinated by the MasterOperations Center.

Just as in the alternate embodiment wherein multiple operations centers202 are used, a delivery system may have multiple satellite uplinks.Preferably, each operations center 202 has one or more uplink sites.Each operations center 202 controls the functions of its assigned uplinksites and may assign one site as a master uplink site.

In another alternative configuration, in regions or areas without cableservices, where subscribers might use backyard satellite systems (TV RO)to receive packaged television services, the set top terminal 220 willinclude the appropriate hardware to allow connection to the backyardsatellite reception equipment, i.e., a typical communication port. Inthis configuration, the backyard satellite system will receiveprogramming signals originating from the operations center 202 directlyfrom the satellite transponders. No cable headend 208 is utilized with abackyard satellite system. The menu system within the set top terminal220 will be programmed directly from the operations center 202. Theoperations center program signals and control signals arrive at the settop terminal 220 essentially unchanged. Additionally, in thisconfiguration, an upstream communication mechanism must be in place atthe subscriber's home (e.g., modem) to communicate information to theoperations center 202 such as program ordering information. The set topterminals 220 can be equipped with a modem port for this upstreamcommunication to the operations center 202. The two alternativeembodiments described in the preceding four paragraphs, and other suchembodiments not specifically referred to herein but within theunderstanding of those skilled in the art, incorporate or combine one ormore of the components of the system 200 of the present invention.

I. Network Controller Description

1. Monitoring and Control of Set Top Terminals

As noted above, the targeted advertising process an be executed at aregional or national operations center such as the operations center202. However, the process can also be executed at a local cable headend,such as the cable headend 208, for example. FIG. 19 shows the networkcontroller 214 of the present invention as part of the cable headend 208operating in the expanded cable television program delivery system 200.The network controller 214 monitors program selections at subscribers'homes, maintains accurate account and billing information and authorizesboth subscriber channel access and particular set top terminals 220 tooperate in the system.

The network controller 214 performs its monitoring and controlcapability by working with other system components housed, in part,within the cable headend 208. These cable headend components include acable headend receiver 203 and a signal processor 209. As shown in theFIG. 19, digital RF program signals 205 are received and processed forfurther distribution to a subscriber's home through a set top terminal220. The program signals 205 are digitally compressed and multiplexedsignals that may be processed at the cable headend 208 or simply passedthrough to the cable distribution network. In the embodiment shown inFIG. 4, the program signals 205 are received by the cable headendreceiver 203 and transmitted to the signal processor 209.

The signal processor 209 prepares the program signals 205 that arereceived by the cable headend 208 for transmission to each set topterminal 220. In the preferred system, the network controller 214supervises and, in some cases, instructs the signal processor 209 inrouting the signals to subscribers. In this way, the network controller214 and signal processor 209 work with one another to perform basiccontrol functions in the cable television system 200. Typically, thiswork is accomplished by the transfer of control information, representedat 211, between the network controller 214 and the signal processor 209.

Although it is preferred that the signal processor 209 and networkcontroller 214 be co-located at the cable headend 208, the networkcontroller 214 may be remotely located from the cable headend 208, aslong as it remains in communication with the signal processor 209 inorder to exchange control information 211.

In many instances, the program signals 205 received from the operationscenter 202 must be modified prior to being sent to the set top terminals220. These modifications to the program control information 211 are madeby the network controller 214 working in conjunction with the signalprocessor 209 to send the STTCIS. From the signal processor 209, thenetwork controller 214 receives the program signals 205, which includecable franchise specific information added by the operations center 202.The network controller 214 modifies the program signals 205, ifnecessary, and communicates the new information back to the signalprocessor 209. The signal processor 209 then forwards the information tothe set top terminal 220 in the form of the STTCIS, arrow 215. In mostinstances, the network controller 214 will modify the program signals205 by adding additional information; however, the program signals 205can be passed through the cable headend 208 to the set top terminal 220without any modification.

The signal processor 209 and network controller 214 are both capable ofhandling the addition of simple local availabilities (e.g., localadvertisements) into the signal sent to the set top terminal 220. Thenetwork controller 214 is also capable of handling more sophisticatedlocal programming needs such as targeting video commercials,informercials, interactive programming and certain data services. Thenetwork controller 214 receives all electronic signals sent by the settop terminal 220, including those sent in response to interactiveservice requests and some data service requests. The network controller214 coordinates the necessary switching and access to allow thesubscriber to enjoy these services.

The network controller 214 has the capability of performing “on the flyprogramming” changes, assisting in (i) partitioning portions ofsubscriber's television screens (split screen video), (ii) selectingdifferent audio signals for the same video (foreign languages), and(iii) interactive features. In addition, the network controller cancreate programming changes. For last minute changes to programming (suchas for a local emergency or important regional events), an operatorusing the network controller 214 can modify the program signals 209 “onthe fly” and change menus available to the subscriber. This accommodatesshort notice changes to program packaging that cannot be handled by theoperations center 202 in advance.

In order to accommodate split screen techniques for promo and demo video(which will be described later), undesired video portions of thetelevision or menu screen may be masked. The network controller 214 cansend the necessary control information to inform the set top terminal220 to mask portions of a specific channel's video. For example, a videochannel with a split screen showing four separate videos would require athree-fourths mask to focus the viewer on the featured video clip.

Tiered programming allows different users to view different video eventhough they are “tuned” to the same channel. For example, the networkcontroller 214 may know the demographics of its subscribers through adatabase generated, in part, from prior subscriber choices, aninteractive selection, or other means. Using the demographicsinformation, the network controller 214 may target commercials to thecorrect audience by showing different commercials to subscriber's withdifferent demographics. Information on programs watched may also be usedto target commercials. Even though subscribers will believe they are“tuned” to one channel, they will be switched to a different channel forthe tiered video and targeted commercial. Alternatively, individualsubscribers may be offered a menu with the option of several commercialsfrom which to choose.

To accommodate foreign speaking subscribers, multiple audio channels fortelevision programming may be provided. The subscriber may be shownmenus of programs available in the subscriber's native language. Thefunction of choosing the correct audio to correspond to the selectedlanguage may be handled by either the set top terminal 220 or thenetwork controller 214 depending upon the configuration. Localprogramming in several languages or additional audio channels for aforeign language translation of a popular television program may beprovided by the network controller 214. Using a picture-on-picturefeature, sign language may be similarly made available to certain settop terminals 220 for the deaf. The sign language video may betransmitted to the set top terminal 220 on a separate channel. Also, atext overlay for the deaf may be easily produced on the lower part ofthe screen. The control signals for producing the text overlay may behandled by the network controller 214.

In other embodiments, the network controller 214 can act as a centralcomputer and provide intra-set top terminal interactive games, inter-settop terminal interactive games, computer bulletin board type services,message services (Electronic mail), etc. For example, a subscriber mayplay war games with six of his (anonymous) fellow subscribers each intheir own home each operating a separate tank. The network controller214 gathers the players using set top terminal 220 communications andacts as the referee. The network controller software “plays” the gameand generates the video control signals to be transmitted to the set topterminals 220. From the video control signals, the set top terminalgenerates a view of the playing field and shows movement of the tanks.Using a similar method, a bulletin board or message system can be set upto discuss a particular program such as “Twin Peaks Whodunit” forenthusiasts with set top terminals 220.

2. Monitoring and Control of Cable Headend Signal Processor

FIG. 20 shows the network controller's major components and how thesecomponents relate with other components of the cable system 200. Thenetwork controller's internal components include a network controllerCPU 224, databases 226, control receiver 228, local memory 230 andtelephone modem 232. The network controller's CPU 224 and databases 226may be accessed through an operator control station, which may includeperipherals such as a computer workstation, CRT display, and printer,represented by the workstation 234.

Information required to operate the network controller 214 will bestored in databases 226 and local memory 230 (e.g., either in RAM, ROM,or magnetic or optical Read/Write devices) at the cable headend 208 aswell as in memory (RAM and/or ROM) within each subscriber's set topterminal 220. In the preferred embodiment, two-way communicationsbetween the network controller 214 and set top terminal 220 will occurover cable lines. The network controller 214 and the set top terminals220 also communicate using telecommunications systems such as plain oldtelephone service (POTS) and the Internet. Many other methods ofcommunication, including those which do not require cables or wires, maybe used with the present invention. Using two-way communication,interactive television programming can be accommodated through thenetwork controller 214. In addition, the preferred network controller214 will be able to access set top terminals 220 via phone lines fortrouble shooting, special features or sophisticated reprogramming.

The network controller CPU 224 controls the interface, depicted at 211,between the network controller 214 and the signal processor 209. Thisinterface 211 allows control information to flow or transfer between thetwo cable headend 208 components. Standard RS-232 or RS-422 links, anIEEE-488 bus or other interface media may be used. During standardoperation, program control information is passed through this interface211 to the network controller CPU 224 from the signal processor 209(i.e., the program control information having been sent to the signalprocessor 209 over satellite from the operations center 202 with the RFprogram signals 205, not shown in FIG. 5). The network controller CPU224 processes the program control information based on data stored inthe network control databases. This processing includes modifying theprogram control information to accommodate regional programming needs.

After processing, the network controller CPU 224 passes the programcontrol information, including any modifications, back to the signalprocessor 209 for distribution over the cable system 200, via the cabledistribution network 236. In this fashion, the network controller 214provides programming and network control instructions to the set topterminals 220 through the signal processor 209.

The processing of program control information by the network controllerCPU 224 can also make use of any data received by the networkcontroller's control receiver 228. The control receiver 228 is amicroprocessor-based device that receives “status reports” directly fromthe set top terminals 220. The status reports received by the controlreceiver 228 generally include information that allows the networkcontroller 214 to track, among other things, a subscriber's programaccess history, as described below. The control receiver 228 can storethe status reports internally in a local storage or memory device andtransfer them to the network controller CPU 224. Typically, the controlreceiver 228 is interfaced with the network controller CPU 224 usingstandard RS-232 or RS-422 links, an IEEE-488 bus or the like.

In the preferred embodiment, the network controller CPU 224 scans thecontrol receiver 228 at a predetermined rate (e.g., once every fewseconds) to initiate the status report transfer. Upon transfer, thenetwork controller CPU 224 adds the data and control information in thestatus reports to the network control databases 226 by: checking forchanges in previously received status information, processing the newinformation and updating the corresponding parameters in the networkcontrol databases 226. The network controller 214 processes theinformation stored in its databases with any program control informationrelayed through the signal processor 209 from the delivery system'soperations center 202. This processing capability allows the networkcontroller 214 to modify prior control signals and create new ones. Thenetwork controller 214 transfers both modified and unmodified controlsignals, along with any local combined program signals 205, to thesignal processor 209 to be combined with others program signals 205 fordistribution over the cable system 200.

3. Modifying the Program Control Information Signal

Tables A-C, described previously, provide an example of some informationthat can be sent in the program control information signal to the settop terminals 220. The program control information signal generated bythe operations center 202 provides data on the scheduling anddescription of programs. The program control information signal may besent through the network controller 214 or, in an alternateconfiguration, directly to the set top terminal 220 for display to thesubscriber. In the preferred embodiment, the program control informationsignal is stored and modified by the network controller 214 and sent tothe set top terminal 220 in the form of the STTCIS. This configurationcan accommodate, among other things, differences in individual cablesystems and possible differences in set top terminal 220 devices.

The set top terminal 220 integrates either the program control signal orthe set top terminal control information stream together with datastored in the memory of the set top terminal 220, to generate on-screenmenu displays for assisting the subscriber in choosing programs forviewing. (Throughout the description the term “program controlinformation” is being used to indicate control information coming fromthe cable headend 208 to the set top terminal 220, whether it is sentdirectly from the operations center 202, processed by the networkcontroller 214 and then forwarded to the set top box (STTCIS), ortransmitted over telephone lines.)

The types of information that can be sent using the program controlsignal includes: number of program categories, names of programcategories, what channels are assigned to a specific category (such asspecialty channels), names of channels, names of programs on eachchannel, program start times, length of programs, description ofprograms, menu assignment for each program, pricing, whether there is asample video clip for advertisement for the program, and any otherprogram, menu or product information. In addition, the program controlinformation signal may be used periodically to reprogram or reconfigurea set top terminal 220 or group of set top terminals 220 (described indetail in co-pending patent application Ser. No. 08/160,281, entitled,REPROGRAMMABLE TERMINAL FOR SUGGESTING PROGRAMS OFFERED ON A TELEVISIONPROGRAM DELIVERY SYSTEM, filed by the same assignee incorporated hereinby reference).

4. Processing the Program Control Information Signal

FIGS. 21a and 21 b show a more detailed schematic of the components ofthe cable headend 208, focusing on the interplay between the networkcontroller 214 and the signal processor's 209 major hardware components.The network controller 214 uses, among other components, the signalprocessor 209 to implement its monitoring and control capabilities.Although the network controller 214 of the present invention will workwith nearly any cable headend signal processing equipment, it ispreferred that the signal processing equipment be modem equipmentcapable of handling digitally compressed video.

FIG. 21a depicts an embodiment of the basic signal processingcapabilities of the cable headend 208 and shows connections tocomponents of the network controller 214. As shown in the figure, RFcable signals 205 are received at the headend 208 through a bank ofintegrated receiver demodulators (IRDs) 240. Each IRD 240 includescustomary RF processing equipment, including a low noise amplifier, ademodulator and other filtering devices (not shown). As each RF feed isfed through the individual IRDs 240, the signals are manipulated andtransferred to the demultiplexer and other signal processing equipmentfor further processing. The demultiplexer 242 splits each cable TVsignal into its respective video and audio signal components. Inaddition, the demultiplexer 242 extracts data from the cable televisionsignals and inputs such data to the control CPU 244.

The control CPU 244 exchanges control information with the networkcontroller 214, as shown at 211. This control information is exchangedbetween the signal processor's control CPU 244 and the networkcontroller CPU 224. In particular, the network controller 214 and signalprocessor 209 pass control information through the interface linking thetwo CPUs in order to perform any modifications to the program controlinformation signal. The network controller CPU 224 oversees suchmodifications, accessing various network control databases 226 forguidance in instructing the signal processor's control CPU 244. Theinstructions provided by the network controller 214 in turn guide thesignal processor 209 in combining and/or adding programming signals andadvertisements for transmission to the set top terminals 220.

The local insertion component 246 of the signal processor 209 allows thecontrol CPU 244 to execute the instructions received from the networkcontroller 214 and insert any local programming and advertisements. Oncesuch regional programming and advertisements have been inserted, thelocal insertion component 246 passes the various signals to amultiplexer 248 that combines the various programming and advertisingsignals. The output of the multiplexer 248 is transferred to RFmodulator 250 that disseminates the composite video and audio signals tothe set top terminals 220. The data extracted from the cable televisionsignals by the demultiplexer 242, which is also sent to the control CPU244, is transmitted to the set top terminal 220 using a separate RFmodulator 250.

The network controller 214 accommodates two-way RF data communicationswith the set top terminals 220. Upstream data transmissions from the settop terminals 220 are received by the network controller's controlreceiver 228. These upstream data transmission capabilities aredescribed in detail below.

FIG. 21b diagrams another embodiment of a basic cable headend 208 havinga network controller 214 and more sophisticated signal processingequipment. Again, RF cable television signals 205 are fed into a bank ofIRDs 240 as described above. These signals 205 are demultiplexed intoindividual video and audio signal components, with data being extractedand sent to the control CPU 244. The individual video and audio signalcomponents are fed into a digital logic circuit 256 that is flexibleenough to select individual video and audio signals for repackaging. Thenetwork controller 214 oversees such repackaging by: (i) receiving theprogram control information from the control CPU 244, (ii) modifying ormanipulating the signal as necessary, and (iii) transferring themodified program control information signal back to the control CPU 244.

With instructions from the network controller 214, the control CPU 244may insert local avails into the digital logic system 256 and executethe various selections of individual video and audio signals forsubsequent transmission to the set top terminals 220. Once individualvideo and audio signals have been selected and all local insertions havebeen made, the outputs of the digital logic circuitry 256 aretransferred to a serializer 258 which recombines all the signals into aserialized format. The serially-formatted signals are in turntransferred to RF modulators 250 for distribution over the cable network200. The selection and recombining components of the signal processingequipment are described in greater detail in a co-pending patentapplication, Ser. No. 08/160,283, entitled DIGITAL CABLE HEADEND FORCABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEM, incorporated herein by reference;however, such sophisticated combining circuitry is not necessary for theoperation of the network controller 214. Rather, a simpler signalprocessing system may readily be used.

In the embodiments diagramed in FIGS. 21a and 21 b, the signal processor209 may, acting alone or in conjunction with control instructions fromthe network controller 214, incorporate local programming and/or localadvertisements into the program signals and forward the revised signalto the set top terminals 220. To accommodate this local programmingavailability, the signal processor 209 must combine the local signal indigital or analog form with the program signals 205 received fromoperations center 202. If a local cable system 200 uses a compressionalgorithm or standard that is different than the one used by theoperations center 202, the signal processor 209 must also decompress andrecompress incoming signals so they may be properly formatted fortransmission to the set top terminals 220. In addition, the signalprocessor 209 performs any necessary signal decryption and/orencryption.

FIG. 22 diagrams an alternative embodiment of a digital/analog cableheadend 208. In particular, this embodiment includes decompression andrecompression capabilities, showing the types of signal processingcomponents that the network controller 214 may control. As shown in FIG.22, the cable headend 208 receiver front-end, indicated at 260,demodulates the received transponder signals 205, which may containfour, six, eight or more audio/video channels of information, into adigital bit stream of multiplexed digitized MPEG or MPEG 2 format video.The signal processor 209 receives the multiplexed signals and initiallyperforms any demultiplexing required to process the received signals.The demultiplexers 242 separate the multiplexed signals into separateindividual MPEG or MPEG 2 format digital channels. Depending on thetransponder signal received, the demultiplexer 242 may have four, six,eight or more cross connects to the combiner 264. The outputs of thedemultiplexers 242 are selectively enabled by the control CPU 244. Thoseoutputs of the multiplexer 248 that are enabled are then input to thecombiner.

Decrypting may be necessary and can be conducted by a separatedecrypting device 262 included as part of the signal processor'sinternal components. The signal processor's control CPU 244 may becontrolled by a remote site (such as a national site) via a modem orsimilar connection 266. Therefore, the remote site is able to controlthe output of the demultiplexers 242. Alternatively, instead of enablingthe outputs of the demultiplexers 242, the inputs of the combiner 264may be selected by the control CPU 244. By enabling or selectingmultiplexer 248 outputs, the control CPU 244 is able to control whichtelevision programs are combined and transmitted to the viewers.

The combiner 264 combines the enabled or selected outputs of thedemultiplexers 242 into the proper format and outputs the signalsthrough a compressor 268, and an encryptor 270 (if desired), to adigital modulator 272. The modulator 272 outputs a modulated RF carriercombined with other carriers onto the cable distribution network 236.The set top converter terminals 220 in subscribers' homes select anddemodulate a particular channel selected by the user. As selections aremade, the set top terminal 220 stores the programs accessed in its localstorage for later transmission to the network controller 214 at thecable headend 208.

5. Receiving Information from Set Top Terminals

The network controller 214 is equipped to receive information from theset top terminals 220 on a regular or random basis. Upstream informationreceived from the set top terminals 220 typically includes, for example,program access data gathered at each set top terminal 220. Suchinformation may be communicated to the network controller 214 through avariety of methods including any of the following methods: (1) cyclicpolling, (2) random access, and (3) telephone modems and the Internet.Cyclic polling and random access methods make use of two-way RF.

As described below, the preferred embodiment employs a cyclic pollingmethod. Although various polling schemes will work with the presentinvention, a roll-call polling scheme is preferred over other schemessuch as hub polling or token-passing since roll-call polling providesthe greatest degree of centralized control.

Using this preferred method, program access information is stored ateach set top terminal 220 until it is polled by the network controller214 for information retrieval using a polling request message format 920as shown previously in FIG. 6a. Using any such polling request messageformat 920, the network controller 214 interrogates each set topterminal 220 sequentially, one by one. In this type of access strategy,the network controller 214 is designated as the central controller ofthe cable distribution network 200 and is responsible for control of thecommunications links between itself and the set top terminals 220. Thiscontrol includes issuing commands to the set top terminals 220 andreceiving responses back from the set top terminals 220.

Basically, the network controller 214 instructs the signal processor 209to transmit to each set top terminal 220 a polling request, which askswhether a set top terminal 220 has any information to transmit. The settop terminals 220 are identified by the unique address and set topterminal identifier 928. It is preferred that the set top terminal 220transmit information and messages to the network controller 214 onlywhen given permission by the network controller 214 to do so.

Where, for example, specialty programs have been accessed since theprevious poll, the set top terminal 220 is given permission to transmita polling response in the form of a status report that includes any suchaccess information. The network controller's control receiver 228 istasked with the receipt of set top terminal 220 polling responses orstatus reports. These status reports generally include information thatallows the network controller 214 to track a subscriber's program accesshistory. As described above, the control receiver can store the statusreports locally and/or transfer them to the network controller CPU 224.

The network controller CPU 224 immediately processes each pollingresponse as it is received from each set top terminal 220. The networkcontroller CPU 224 updates pertinent databases 226 with the receivedinformation, and then sends another polling request to the next set topterminal 220 on its list. A set top terminal 220 with no information totransmit so indicates in a reply to the network controller 214. Once allset top terminals 220 have been given permission to transmit statusreports, a cycle is complete and a new cycle begins.

Through a polling cycle, the network controller 214 acquires theinformation needed to operate the system 200. During the cycle, thenetwork controller 214 sends signals to the set top terminals 220 toauthorize both their operation and access to specific channels. If, forexample, a subscriber has failed to pay a recent bill, the networkcontroller 214 can deauthorize the subscriber's set top terminal 220.Likewise, when a subscriber orders a program or channel, the networkcontroller 214 checks the subscriber's account for good standing byreading the proper database file. After the check, the networkcontroller 214 then either authorizes or deauthorizes access by the settop terminal 220 using the data transmitted in a modified programcontrol information signal. As a result, the cycle requires a series ofrequests and responses to operate.

FIG. 6b shows an example frame format 920′ for the status reportsreceived from the set top terminals 220 during the polling cycle. Thisframe format is substantially identical to the polling request messageformat 920 (FIG. 6a), and includes: (1) a leading flag at the beginningof the message, (2) an address field, (3) a subscriber regiondesignation, (4) a set top terminal identifier that includes a pollingcommand/response (or P/F) bit, (5) an information field, and (6) atrailing flag at the end of the message, each designated by a commonnumber with respect to FIG. 6a, but with the prime indicator (′) added.

The second method for the network controller 214 to receive informationfrom the set top terminals 220 is through the use of a random accessscheme. In an alternate embodiment that uses this method, individual settop terminals 220 can send control-related messages to the networkcontroller 214 without being polled. This scheme is particularly usefulin networks where subscriber regions include potentially large numbersof subscribers. High concentrations of subscribers may be found, forexample, in large metropolitan areas. In such cases, the polling cyclecan be replaced with a more sophisticated random access strategy such ascarrier-sense multiple access with collision detection (CSMA/CD). Inthis scheme, each set top terminal 220 must “listen” before it transmitsand then does so only if it senses an idle medium. When the return linkto the network controller 214 is silent, a given set top terminal 220can transmit its messages. Any messages sent from a set top terminal 220to the network controller 214 would set the P/F bit 930′ to a “0”position to indicate that the message is not in response to any commandor polling request. In addition to CSMA/CD, other random access schemescan be used with the system, such as CDSL.

The third method for the network controller 214 to receive informationfrom the set top terminals 220 is through the use of telephone modems orthe Internet. In an alternate embodiment, the set top terminals 220communicate program access information and orders to the networkcontroller 214 using telephone modems. In this embodiment, the set topterminals 220 are equipped with a modem port to facilitate suchoperation. Thus, communications between a given set top terminal 220 andthe network controller 214 can be established over telephone lines whencable traffic or other primary traffic is congested. The preferredmethod of using telephone modems is in combination with a control or“hit” signal from the network controller 214. A group (or region) of settop terminals 220 is “hit” simultaneously by the network controller 214via the cable. Only those set top terminals 220 within the group thathave data for the network controller 214 call the network controller 214by modem. The network controller 214 is equipped with a bank of modems(organized to roll-over telephone calls) to answer the incoming calls.

In yet another embodiment, the set top terminals 220 connect directly tothe Internet, using for example, standard telephone lines. The set topterminals 220 then provide access to web sites and data bases on theInternet, and also provide communications with the cable headends 208and the operations center 202. The set top terminals 220 may alsoconnect to the Internet via a separate processor, such as a stand alonepersonal computer.

Among the three methods discussed for the network controller 214 toreceive information from the set top terminals 220, the use of thecyclic polling scheme depicted in FIGS. 6a and 6 b, is preferred.Polling is preferred because it allows the network controller 214 toconduct and control communications with set top terminals 220 over thecable network in an orderly fashion. In particular, the networkcontroller 214 can schedule data retrieval by polling the set topterminals 220 one by one. A random access method, on the other hand,does not allow the network controller 214 to maintain such orderlycommunications. Instead, the network controller 214 receives data fromthe set top terminals 220 at random, depending on when the cable mediumis idle. This random reception of data lessens the degree of controlthat the network controller 214 has over set top terminal transmissions.Likewise, the third method, which uses telephone modems and/or theInternet, is less desirable than the polling method since the use ofmodems does not allow for upstream interactivity over the cable medium.

6. Processing Information Received from Set Top Terminals

Regardless of the scheme used by the set top terminals 220 to access thenetwork controller 214, any polling responses and upstream interactivityis received by the network controller's control receiver 228 as shown inFIG. 23, depicting the components of the control receiver 228, whichincludes a demodulator 310 and demultiplexer 313 to demodulate anddemultiplex transmissions received from any set top terminal 220 in thecable distribution network 200. As described above, the control receiver228 transfers, through a control buffer 315, the received information tothe network controller CPU 224 for processing.

Processing is accomplished by the network controller CPU 224. Operatorinstructions are input to the network controller CPU 224 through theoperator control station 234 that includes, for example, acomputer/workstation with a CRT display, printer and other peripherals.Multiple operator control stations 234 can be used to assist in controloperations.

Regional operator control stations (not specifically shown, butsubstantially identical to stations 234) may be used and may includemultiple operator control stations each assigned to a particularsubscriber region corresponding to a geographic region where set topterminals 220 are located. Thus, each regional operator control stationis assigned to a subscriber region, providing monitoring and controlcapabilities over such regions. All regional program control informationis transferred to the network controller CPU 224 for processing, as inthe case where a single control station 234 is used. Likewise, duringthis processing, portions of the network control databases 226 may alsobe updated.

No set number of databases 226 are required for the network controller214 to perform its operations, and a single temporary database may beused. In the preferred embodiment, however, the network controller 214uses several databases (indicated at 226) that are accessed duringnetwork control operations. These databases 226 are identified in FIG.23 and include: (1) the Viewer Profile database 314, (2) theAccount/Billing database 316, (3) the Program Library database 318, (4)the Program Scheduling database 320, (5) the Advertisement Librarydatabase 322, and (6) the Advertisement Scheduling database 324.

FIG. 24 shows one example of a network controller's basic databasestructure including the databases identified in the preceding paragraph.The data stored in these databases is not simply raw data. Rather datamay be processed, correlated and appropriately indexed to create a truerelational database 226.

As shown in FIG. 12, the Viewer Profile database 314 includes: (i) a Settop ID File, (ii) a Subscriber Region File, (iii) a Customer ID File and(iv) a Viewer Log File, the latter three files being indicated generallyas a file group 332. The Set top ID File 330, common to each of thedatabases comprising the network controller's database 226, contains settop converter records with each record representing a unique set topterminal 220. Examples of information stored in this file includes settop terminal type, software version and set top terminalidentification/serial number. The Set top ID File 330 contains the keydata that links each relational database with one another, as describedbelow.

The Subscriber Region File, part of file group 332, includes informationsuch as headend 208 assignment, regional operator control workstationassignment and a designation for the subscriber's geographical area. TheCustomer ID and Viewer Log Files, part of file group 332, include thesubscriber's personal information, such as name, address and telephonenumber, and information on the subscriptions to cable services for eachcustomer as well as a personal profile for each viewer, respectively.

The personal profile consists of demographic information that may begathered in a number of ways. The set top terminal 220 builds thepersonal profile for each viewer and stores the information in a memoryfile by viewer name. To build a personal profile in the preferredsystem, the viewer answers a series of questions presented on a seriesof menu screens. These personal profile screens request the viewer toinput information such as name, sex, age, place of birth, place of lowerschool education, employment type, level of education, amount oftelevision program viewing per week, and the number of shows inparticular categories that the viewer watches in a given week such as,sports, movies, documentaries, sitcoms, etc. Any demographic informationwhich will assist the set top terminal 220 in targeting advertisementsto the viewer may be used.

In addition to gathering demographics at the set top terminal 220, thepersonal profile can be compiled using other methods. For instance, theinformation can be gathered using questionnaires sent by mail andsubsequently entered in the Viewer Profile Database 314 by the networkcontroller's control station operator.

As an alternative to gathering demographic data, a simulated profile canbe generated using an algorithm similar to that described below thatanalyzes access history and viewing habits. Using test informationgenerated from a statistically significant number of viewers, thesimulated profile algorithm estimates the viewer's age, education, sexand other relevant information. The analysis requires reviewing theviewer's programs watched and statistically comparing the viewer'sprograms watched with the test group. Also, the algorithm can place thesubscriber or viewer in a viewer category. This analysis is transparentfrom the subscriber's point of view and attempts to accurately profilethe viewer. Various viewers or viewer categories can later be targetedwith different advertisements.

The Account/Billing database 316 includes (i) the Set top ID File 330,and (ii) an Account History File, and (iii) a Billing File, the lattertwo files indicated at 338. The Set top ID File, as described above,contains information unique to each subscriber, including set topterminal type, software version and set top terminalidentification/serial number. The Account History and Billing Filescontain information concerning each subscriber's past bills and accountrecord and information on the most recent bill, including data fromwhich the next billing report can be generated, respectively.

The Program Library database 318 include (i) the Set top ID File 330,and (ii) a Programs File, (iii) a Preview File, (iv) a Program CategoryFile, (v) a Price Category File and (vi) Service File, the latter fivefiles identified at 344. As usual, the Set top ID File identifies eachset top terminal 220 by identification number. The Programs Filecontains information on every program offering in the system, includingname, length and type of program. The Preview File contains informationon previews for specialty programs stored in the Programs File. TheProgram Category File contains a set of categories into which eachprogram may be placed, such as movies, sports, science fiction and news.The Price Category File contains information on pricing for variouscategories of programs, grouping programs and services into categoriesby price. The Service File maintains information on the various cableservices available in the system 200.

The Program Scheduling database 320 includes (i) the Set top ID File330, and (ii) an Access History File, (iii) a Programs Watched MatricesFile and (iv) a Program Scheduling Library, the latter three filesindicated at 350. The Access History File contains information on theprograms that the set top terminal 220 has accessed and the ProgramsWatched Matrices contains information on the number of programs watchedin a given program category during different times of day. Relative tothe Programs Watched Matrices file, a programs watched matrix is shownin FIG. 27 and further described below. The Program Scheduling Filecontains information on the times of day and the corresponding programsthat are being offered for viewing at each subscriber location.

The Advertisement Library database 322 includes (i) the Set top ID File330, and (ii) an Advertisements File, and (iii) an AdvertisementCategory File, the latter two files being indicated at 354. TheAdvertisements File contains information on every advertisement in thesystem, including name, length and type of advertisement, and theAdvertisement Category File contains a set of categories into which eachadvertisement can be placed.

The Advertisement Scheduling database 324 includes (i) the Set top IDFile 330, and (ii) an Advertisement Selection File, and (iii) anAdvertisement Targeting File, the latter two files identified at 358.The Advertisement Selection File contains information on theadvertisements that have been offered to each subscriber and keeps trackof the ones that have been selected. The Advertisement Targeting Filecontains information on the advertisements and advertisement categoriesthat have been chosen by the system as being of the most interest to aspecific subscriber.

The network control databases 314, 316, 318, 320, 322, 324 comprisingthe database 226 are relational databases generally keyed to informationin a single file. Specifically, the relational key is a set top terminal220 identification number stored in Set top Terminal ID File 330, asshown in FIG. 11. This set top terminal identification number allows thedatabase files that correspond to a particular subscriber to be linkedtogether by a common reference. In other words, the databases arestructured such that subscribers are referenced in each database file bya unique set top terminal identification number. In this way, eachdatabase may be accessed based on set top terminal identification numberalone. Thus, using a subscriber's set top terminal identificationnumber, the network controller CPU 224 can access and processinformation pertaining to that subscriber from any of the abovedescribed database files. In configurations where multiple set topterminals 220 are allocated to a single customer (or household), aunique subscriber identification number may be added to the database 226to group the set top terminals 220 by customer. With the set topterminal identification as a relational key, many additional databasesmay be created that correlate and store pieces of subscriber-specificinformation from the six databases and underlying files.

7. Overview of Software Routines

FIG. 25 shows the major software routines initiated and executed by thenetwork controller CPU 224. These routines are: (1) the Modifying PCIroutine 370, (2) the Polling Cycle routine 372, (3) the AdvertisementTargeting routine, and (4) the Account/Billing routine 376. Together,these routines, along with the operator entry and update functions 380,382, respectively, enable the network controller 214 to perform itsmajor functions.

The Modifying PCI routine 370 is the software that enables the networkcontroller 214 to modify the program control information (PCI) signalreceived from the signal processor 209. This software routine generallyallows the network controller CPU 224 to modify the PCI signal contentso that changes and additions in programming and advertisements can beaccommodated. Such changes and additions include access authorizationsand deauthorizations in the form of authorization and deauthorizationmessages, respectively.

The Polling Cycle routine 372 is the software sequence thatinteractively executes the network controller's polling cycle allowingthe network controller 214 to schedule and perform polling of all settop terminals 220 operating in the system 200. The software alsoprovides the network controller 214 with a means of processing statusreports received from set top terminals 220 in response to pollingrequests. For a random access system (not depicted), the software ofthis routine 372 would be changed.

The Alternate Advertisement Targeting routine 374 is the software thatgenerates packages of television commercials and advertisements gearedtowards particular viewers and makes use of a viewer's demographicinformation and viewing habits to determine those advertisements thatare of most interest to that particular viewer. In so doing, the routine374 outputs packages of advertisements targeted towards each viewer orgroups of viewers.

The Account/Billing routine 376 is the software that the networkcontroller CPU 224 runs to generate billing reports for each set topterminal 220. In general, the routine 376 correlates the programsaccessed with pricing information to generate each report.

8. Polling Cycle Routine

FIG. 26 shows a software flow diagram for the network controller'sPolling Cycle routine 372, which interactively executes the networkcontroller's polling cycle. The number of iterations correspond to thenumber of set top terminals 220 being polled. The network controller CPU224 initiates the Polling Cycle sequence periodically on a predeterminedbasis, block 400. Typically, this period is set by the operator at thenetwork controller's operator control station 234 at once per day,although other periods (e.g., multiple times per day or once per week)can be used.

Upon initiation of the sequence 400, as depicted at function block 402,the network controller CPU 224 reads the Set top Terminal ID File 330and begins generating, block 404, a polling request frame (shown in FIG.6a and described above) for the first set top terminal 220 identified inthe file 330. Once the necessary polling request information iscomplete, the frame is transferred to the signal processor CPU 244through the interface between the signal processor 209 and networkcontroller 214. After transfer to the signal processor 209, the framesmay be transmitted to the set top terminals 220, block 406. Meanwhile,the network controller's control receiver 228 awaits the correspondingresponse.

Upon receipt of a polling response, as depicted at block 408, thenetwork controller CPU 224 reads the received information from thecontrol buffer 315. The network controller 214 reads the informationfield of the polling response frame format, as described above. Thenetwork controller CPU 224 processes, indexes and stores the data in anappropriate format, updating the corresponding database files with theinformation received, block 410. The processing and indexing of the rawdata into a relational database 226 is important to the ability of thenetwork controller 214 to quickly take actions such as targetingcommercials without lengthy processing time. The polling routinesubsequently returns to the Set Top Terminal ID File 330, as shown atdecision block 412, to continue the polling cycle for the next set topterminal 220 identified in the file 330. When the routine 372 sequencesthrough the last set top terminal 220, the cycle is complete and theroutine 372 ceases until the next polling period.

Most often, the files that require updates during the polling cycle arethe Access History File, the Programs Watched Matrices File and theAccount History File 338. For example, FIG. 27 shows an example of a30-day programs watched matrix, denoted 351, for one set top terminal220. The matrix 351 is divided into six rows, corresponding to sixfour-hour time slots. The columns of the matrix 351 are divided, asnecessary, by the program categories available for viewing. Each entryin the matrix 351 denotes the number of programs watched in a particularprogram category and time period.

After the status report is received on each set top terminal 220, thepolling response routine (see FIGS. 6a and 6 b) determines which timeslot and category of program numbers in the matrix 351 need to beincreased. Thus, entries in the matrix 351 are updated upon receipt ofeach set top terminal's polling status report, thereby maintaining arunning total of the programs watched. For example, during the 0800-1200time period, the matrix 351 shows that this set top terminal 220 hasbeen used to watch ten movies during the past month. Preferably theprogram watched identifying information is stored in addition to therunning totals in the Programs Watched Matrices file. Use of programswatched matrices is further described in the following sectiondescribing the Advertisement Targeting routine.

9. Alternate Advertisement Targeting Routine

Targeted advertising, using a multiple channel architecture has beendescribed previously. FIG. 28 shows the seven primary functions of analternate advertisement targeting routine 374. The function of thisroutine is to target video for set top terminals 220 based on historicalviewing data and other data that is available at the network controller214. Advertisements that may be targeted include video, commercials andinfomercials, with infomercials being time varying video segments (e.g.,thirty seconds, fifteen minutes). In the discussion that follows, thealternate advertisement targeting routine 374 is described as executedat the cable headend 208. However, as previously noted, the same routinecould be executed at a regional or national operations center such asthe operations center 202.

When initiated, block 420, the first subroutine, identified at functionblock 422, accesses the programs watched matrices (exemplified by matrix351) stored in the Programs Watched Matrices file in the ProgramScheduling database 320. The subroutine uses a unique set top terminalID to access a specific matrix for one set top terminal 220. Thesematrices are maintained and updated by the polling response routine.

The second subroutine, function block 424, which develops other matricesbased on other available information, is an optional subroutine notrequired for the functioning of the system. For groups of set topterminals 220 or for each individual set top terminal 220, matrices maybe developed based on the demographic information, billing information,pricing information, age information and other information which may bestored in the network controller 214 databases.

The third subroutine, block 426, processes all matrices through a set ofcorrelation algorithms. In particular, this subroutine 426 takesmatrices developed in the first two subroutines and processes thematrices until reaching a final matrix.

FIG. 29 diagrams an embodiment of this matrices processing subroutine426 which is called by the advertisement targeting sequence shown inFIG. 28. As shown in FIG. 29, the subroutine 426 is initiated 427 andthen accesses or queries, block 428, the programs watched file andgathers information regarding either an individual subscriber or a groupof subscribers. The software can gather the programs watched informationin this way for individual subscribers or a set of subscribers.

Once the programs watched information has been gathered from thedatabases, the routine 426 selects and groups, function block 430,programs watched based on program categories and time slots. Thesoftware initially takes each program category (e.g., sports, news,movies, etc.) and establishes the number of programs watched for a giventime slot. The time slots may be set to any length of time, including,for example, one, two, three or four hour time frames. The software willloop through such a counting process for each group and timeslot andthen proceed to build a programs watched matrix, block 432, based on theprogram categories and time slots. Essentially, all programs watched ina particular category and time slot will be entered into the programswatched matrix. Once the matrix has been built, the subroutine 426 willprocess the matrix for a given subscriber or node of subscribers throughthe correlation algorithms.

A number of correlation algorithms may be used to weight each selectedprogram category group. For example, as shown at block 434, a sum ofsquares algorithm may be used to determine the weighting. Once thegroups have been weighted, the weighted groups will be correlated, as atblock 436, with various advertisements stored in the network controldatabases. The software can then select a set of the most heavilyweighted advertisements for transmission to individual subscribers orsets of subscribers in a cable distribution network node. Havingdetermined the weightings of each group and prioritizing the groupsaccordingly, the subroutine returns 438 to the advertisement targetingsequence 374 of FIG. 28.

Referring back to FIG. 28, the fourth subroutine, as represented atfunction block 428, uses the final matrix developed by the correlationand weighing algorithm described above, to select a grouping (orselective filter) for each set top terminal 220. The final groupings ofadvertisement that may be sent to the set top terminals 220 or group ofset top terminals 220 may use a subroutine as diagramed in FIG. 30.

The subroutine 428 depicted in FIG. 30 is called or initiated by theadvertisement targeting sequence 374 of FIG. 28 in order to determinethe final groupings. Basically, this subroutine selects a set ofcommercials that will be used in the chosen groupings, function block444. This selection process typically involves advertisements fromvarious advertisement categories (from a number of advertisers whichhave purchased “air time”). Each advertisement will subsequently beassigned a number of times that it will be shown in a given time frame,block 446. This frequency of display may be based on various factors,including the number of requests and cost paid by the respectiveadvertisers to have the commercial displayed. Such factors are used inthe next step of the subroutine, block 448, which assigns a weighting tospecific commercials or advertisements in each advertisement category orgroup. These weightings are used to prioritize the advertisements thatwill be sent to individual set top terminals 220 or group of set topterminals 220.

Once the advertisements have been weighted, the software executes itscorrelation algorithm, 450, using selected criteria (i.e., the variousfactors used to weight the advertisements) as well as the output of eachprograms watched matrix. Any number of correlation algorithms andweighting algorithms may be used with the software, including the sum ofsquares weighting algorithm described above.

The results from the correlation algorithm subsequently determine theadvertisements and programming material that is sent to the signalprocessor 209 for distribution over the cable network, as represented atblock 452. Once the subroutine 428 completes these steps, the networkcontroller CPU 224 updates the account and billing database based on theads that are sent to the signal processor 209 for subscriber viewing, asshown at block 454. These billing database updates allow the advertisersto track the costs and frequency of the advertisements targeted tospecific set top terminals 220 or nodes of set top terminals 220.Following the updates, the subroutine returns to the advertisementtargeting sequence shown in FIG. 28, block 456.

Referring to FIG. 31, set top groupings (1 through 5) 460 are shown. Thenumber of set top groupings available may be determined by the bandwidthavailable to transmit commercials. The bandwidth of the system willlimit the number of commercials which are available at the set topterminal 220 at any given time.

Referring back to FIG. 28, the fifth subroutine, represented at functionblock 466, prepares set top group information for transmission to theset top terminals 220. This subroutine 466 modifies the PCI signal andincludes set top group information in the information field of the frameformat given earlier. The various methods for transmitting the groupinformation to the set top terminals 220 are described below.

The sixth subroutine, block 468, selects the target video and is thelast decision making process in targeting a commercial for a viewer and,can be performed by either the set top terminal 220 or the networkcontroller 214. As noted above, targeted advertising can be based onwatching a specific program or a category of programs. In an embodiment,the set top terminal 220 performs this last step by correlating (ormatching) the program being watched by the viewer with the set top groupinformation that has been previously transmitted by the networkcontroller 214. For example, using the multiple channel architecture,and referring back to Tables E and F, the set top terminal 220 comparesthe Group Assignment matrix to the switching plan, switches programchannels as appropriate, and the targeted advertisement is thendisplayed, as shown at block 470. Alternately, the targeting is done byprogram categories. FIG. 31 shows an exemplary table matching set topterminal groups 460 and program category being watched 470 with aspecific channel (continuously) showing commercials. The commercialchannels are shown in FIG. 32 at 474 and are assigned Roman numerals Ithrough X, for example. The number of set top groupings and channelsshowing commercials can vary. FIG. 32 shows a division of availablebandwidth to carry ten videos, ten commercial channels. In this example,the channels 474 are numbered 101-110.

The network controller 214 will transmit group information to a set topterminal shown as row names 460 on FIG. 31. The network controller 214will also transmit data which informs the set top terminal 220 which ofthe multiple commercial channels 474 is assigned to a television programcategory shown as Columns 470 on FIG. 31. Each set top terminal 220 onlyrequires the data related to that set top terminal's assigned group (orrow). For example, in FIG. 31, the set top terminal in group 1 (row 1)is provided with data on the commercial channel which are assigned forsports programs as I, children's programs as IV and movie category asIII. In this manner, each set top terminal 220 is only required to storeinformation related to its own grouping. Therefore, a set top terminal220 which is in group 1 only needs to store the information related togroup 1, which is found in row 1 of FIG. 31. This information includesone commercial channel assignment for each of the eight programcategories. Using this information, the set top terminal 220 firstdetermines the specific program or the category of the televisionprogram currently being watched and then is able to quickly determinewhich channel to switch the viewer when an advertisement availabilityoccurs during the program.

The network controller 214 can also perform the step of correlatingprogram category watched 470 and set top terminal grouping 460 to selectthe target video. The network controller 214 perform this function bygathering information on the program currently being watched by theviewer. To obtain this information in a polling system, set top pollingmust occur on a real-time basis (i.e., 10 minutes).

During the target commercial selection process, the set top terminalprogramming will default to the existing commercial during a program ifit is missing any of the information needed to determine which of thecontinuously playing commercial channels to show. In alternativeembodiments, the default that is shown on the regular programmingchannel will correlate with one of the assigned set top groupings andprogram categories. FIG. 31 shows, at 478, that the default has beenassigned to set top terminal grouping 3 for program categories“children” and “entertainment.”

The methods to transmit targeted commercials to a set top terminal 220are: (1) the Multiple Channel method; (2) the Storage method (i.e.,storing advertisements in the set top terminal); (3) the AdditionalBandwidth method (or individual video access); and (4) the Split Screenmethod. Each method has certain advantages and disadvantages. TheMultiple Channel method requires a set top terminal 220 “transparently”to change channels during a scheduled advertisement from the channel ofthe currently viewed program to the channel which is carrying thetargeted commercial. Although this channel changing method may betransparent to the viewer, it creates difficulty in terms of timing andsynchronizing the commercials to begin and end during an advertisementavailability occurring in the normally scheduled program. The channelchanging is done within the set top terminal 220 using the existingtuner(s).

The hardware required to accommodate such transparent channel switchingcapabilities are shown in FIGS. 33, and 34. FIG. 33 shows the set topterminal hardware components which accommodate channel switching withina single 6 MHZ channel bandwidth. These components include a tuner 603,a demodulator 606, a demultiplexer 609, a multiplexer 604, adecompressor 622, a microprocessor 602, and local memory M. The tuner603 operates by tuning to a specific 6 MHZ bandwidth which includes thedisplayed video and a number of channels carrying advertisements. Thedemodulator 606 processes these signals and sends them to thedemultiplexor 609, which converts the received signal into separateprogram and advertisement signals. During this processing, themicroprocessor 602 coordinates the demultiplexing of the programmingsignals. Once the video signal pauses for a commercial break, themicroprocessor 602 instructs the multiplexer 604 to select theadvertisement or advertisements for decompression and subsequent displayon the subscriber's television. This hardware configuration allows theset top terminal 220 to switch between channels within the 6 MHZbandwidth and display various advertisements for viewing, regardless ofthe video currently being watched by the subscriber.

Where a targeted advertisement falls outside the tuned 6 MHZ bandwidthcontaining the video that the subscriber is currently watching, thehardware configuration shown in FIG. 34 is used. In this configuration,the microprocessor 602 instructs the tuner 603 to return to another 6MHZ channel bandwidth, as represented by bidirectional arrow A.

Working together, the microprocessor 602 and tuner 603 allow targetedadvertisements, which have been transmitted in another 6 MHZ bandwidth,to be tuned with minimal acquisition time and delay. In particular, thisconfiguration allows the set top terminal 220 to tune outside a given 6MHZ bandwidth (to another 6 MHZ bandwidth) in order to select a targetedadvertisement for display. This alternative embodiment may require theuse of a full screen mask in order to minimize any annoying screenrolling during the tuning process. The masking is intended to cover anyglitches which would otherwise be displayed during the acquisition time(e.g., 0.5 seconds) for returning to another 6 MHZ channel bandwidth.

Where the acquisition time or delay becomes unreasonable, an alternativeembodiment can include the use of two tuners similar to theconfiguration shown in FIG. 35. This alternative configuration using twotuners, trades an increased cost for lower acquisition times. In set topterminals 220 equipped with two tuners, the terminal can use the secondtuner to tune the channel showing the commercial. Set top terminals withtwo tuners are described in detail in co-pending patent application,Ser. No. 08/160,194, entitled, ADVANCED SET TOP TERMINAL FOR CABLETELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS, incorporated herein by reference. Again,the channel changing is transparent to the viewer who believes the samechannel is continuously being shown. Those skilled in the art willrecognize a number of other configurations of set top terminal hardwarethat will accommodate a transparent channel switching feature.

The Storage method (described above with reference to the MultipleChannel method, requires the set top terminal to store a certain numberof targeted advertisements in memory. The group assignment and switchingplan development described for use with the Multiple Channel method isthen used to direct the set top terminal to retrieve the appropriateadvertisement from memory during program breaks. In this embodiment, thestored targeted advertisements are retrieved, based on a file name, forexample, that is identified by comparing the Group Assignment matrix andthe switching plan. The Storage method has the advantage of notrequiring additional feeder channel to continuously broadcast targetedadvertisements.

The Additional Bandwidth method allows flexibility by more specificallytargeting commercials before the commercials are transmitted to a settop terminal 220. However, it requires a great deal of availablebandwidth in the delivery system. This is difficult with a cable system200 but possible when a telephone or personal communications system isused to transmit the commercials to the set top terminal 220.

The Additional Bandwidth method allows the network controller 214 to runthrough a set top terminal's specific correlation algorithms and targetspecific commercials from hundreds for each set top terminal 220. Thismethod allows for the greatest customizing of targeting and allows for agreater selection of commercials to be shown. Only after a commercialadvertisement is selected by the network controller 214 for the specificset top terminal 220 does transmission of the commercial occur.

The Split Screen method transmits multiple commercials on a singlechannel using a split screen technique; commercials being pre-recordedand prepared prior to transmitting to the set top terminal 220. Althoughmany commercials can be transmitted on a single channel, in thepreferred form of the split screen method, only four commercials areshown. As the number of commercials increases the size and the amount ofvideo information transmitted for each commercial decreasesproportionately (i.e., 6, 8, 12, etc.). Using split screen methodology,either a masking technique or a scaling and repositioning of videotechnique must be used at the set top terminal 220 to show the ad. Themasking and repositioning-scaling techniques are further defined inco-pending U.S. Patent Application entitled, ADVANCED SET TOP TERMINALFOR CABLE TELEVISION DELIVERY SYSTEMS, Ser. No. 08/160,194, owned by theassignee of the present invention and incorporated herein by reference.The scaling and repositioning technique produces better qualitycommercials, but requires expensive equipment at the set top terminal220. The set top terminal 220 will perform audio switching with thesplit screen method to amplify the correct audio.

FIG. 36 shows a software program flow 490 that is an alternative to thenetwork controller's Alternate Advertisement Targeting routine 374,depicted in FIG. 28. The alternative program 490 allows each set topterminal 220 to be individually targeted with specific advertisementsand is initiated automatically, block 492, by the network controller CPU224 upon receipt of each polling response from a set top terminal 220.Thus, once the network controller 214 receives program accessinformation from a set top terminal 220, the network controller CPU 224begins the process of selecting a package of advertisements that isbased on, among other things, that subscriber's demographic informationand viewing history.

Upon receipt of a polling response from a set top terminal 220, thenetwork controller CPU 224 reads the set top terminal identifier, 494,and the programs accessed, 496, from the polling response (or statusreport) (depicted in FIG. 6b). The network controller 214 writesinformation on the programs accessed to the Program Scheduling database320, updating the Access History File which contains listings of allprograms accessed within the past week, month or year.

With continued reference to FIG. 36, the network controller CPU 224 thencalls a subroutine that sorts the programs accessed by program category,block 498. In turn, the program categories are sorted, 500, based on thenumber of times that programs appearing in each particular category areaccessed. In so doing, this sorting subroutine determines and ranksthose programs and program categories that are most frequently viewed bythat set top terminal 220.

The subroutine can interactively produce rankings for different timeslots in a given day. In this way, different rankings can accommodatedifferent viewing preferences during those time slots for a single settop terminal 220. For example, where rankings for eight three-hour timeslots are desired, the subroutine determines a ranking of programs andprogram categories for each three-hour viewing period. Thus, a differentranking may be produced, for instance, for a morning time slot and anevening time slot. All rankings of programs and program categories forthat set top terminal 220 are written to the Viewer Profile database314, updating the Viewer Log File, as at function block 502.

Next, the network controller CPU 224 calls a subroutine that correlatesthe updated Viewer Log File with the Advertisement Categories File inthe Advertisement Library database 322, block 504. By correlating thesetwo files with one another, the subroutine assigns or correlates variouscategories of television commercials to each ranking of programs andprogram categories in the Viewer Log File. The categories of televisioncommercials and advertisements that may be so assigned are found in theAdvertisement Categories File indicated generally at 354 as part of thelibrary 322 and may include: (1) Household Goods/Products, (2) HomeImprovement and Maintenance, (3) Personal Hygiene, (4) EntertainmentItems and Events, (5) Sporting Goods and Events, (6) Motor Vehicles andRelated Products, (7) Foodstuffs and Beverages, and (8) Miscellaneous.Where, for example, the viewer has watched a sporting event, theSporting Goods and Events, Home Improvement and Maintenance, andFoodstuffs and Beverages categories may be assigned to that particularsporting event/program and Sports program category.

Once the programs and program categories ranked in the Viewer Log Fileare correlated with the advertisement categories in the AdvertisementCategories File, the routine calls a sorting subroutine that ranks thegroups of advertising categories correlated based on other informationin the database files. In the preferred system, this ranking isprimarily based on data in the updated Access History File and theupdated Viewer Log File, as shown at function block 506. By using dataon the viewer's past program selections and demographic information, thesubroutine ranks the correlated categories of advertisements accordingto those likely to be of most interest to that viewer.

After the advertisement categories have been sorted and ranked, theroutine selects the top three advertisement categories as the targetedcategories for a given time slot and viewer, block 508. Individualadvertisements are then chosen from the Advertisements File, with allselections made from the targeted categories, 510. The advertisementsthat are selected are written to the Advertisement Targeting File fromwhere advertising packages can be generated, function 512, fortransmission to the set top terminal 220. Such packages are generated bythe network controller CPU 224, which accesses the AdvertisementTargeting File and includes the targeted advertisements in the PCIsignal. The entire routine is repeated for each set top terminal 220and, alternatively, each viewer. The terms and descriptions used hereinare set forth by way of illustration only and are not meant aslimitations. Those skilled in the art will recognize that numerousvariations are possible within the spirit and scope of the invention asdefined in the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for targeting advertisements to aplurality of television terminals, comprising: assigning at least oneprimary advertisement to each of a program channel; assigning at leastone alternate advertisement to at least one feeder channel; andgenerating a switching plan, wherein the switching plan instructs eachof the television terminals to select one of the program channel and theat least one feeder channel during a program break occurring in abroadcast of a program on the program channel, wherein generating theswitching plan comprises: assigning each of the television terminals toat least one group, designating a unique group mask for each of thegroups, and assigning each of the groups to one of the program channeland the at least one feeder channel, wherein the group mask indicateswhich of the television terminals tune to the program channel and the atleast one feeder channel during the program break.
 2. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the group assignments and corresponding group masks arestored in a memory of a television terminal.
 3. The method of claim 1,wherein the group assignments are determined based on at least one ofArea of Dominant Influence (ADI), zip code+4, demographic data andprograms watched data, the group assignments being updated to reflectchanges in the ADI, zip code+4, demographic data and programs watcheddata.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the program breaks include oneor more pods, the program channel and the at least one feeder channelare assigned to each of the one or more pods, and wherein the switchingplan directs each of the plurality of television terminals to tune toone of the program channel and the at least one feeder channel betweenpods.
 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the television terminal storesinformation indicating which of the program channel and the at least onefeeder channel was selected during each pod and each program break, thetelevision terminal providing the information to a remote location. 6.The method of claim 5, wherein the remote location polls the televisionterminal to send the information.
 7. The method of claim 5, wherein thetelevision terminal sends the information to the remote location using acollision detection/collision avoidance protocol.
 8. The method of claim1, wherein the program includes the switching plan.
 9. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the switching plan is sent periodically to theplurality of television terminals, the switching plan being stored in amemory of each of the plurality of television terminals.
 10. A method oftargeting advertisements to television terminals using multiplechannels, comprising: broadcasting a program containing program breaks,each of the program breaks including at least one default advertisement;broadcasting at least one alternate advertisement; broadcasting aswitching plan, wherein the switching plan designates which of thetelevision terminals receive the default advertisement and the at leastone alternate advertisement during the program breaks; creatingcategories of advertisements; defining group categories; for each groupcategory, defining at least one group; assigning each televisionterminal, for each group category, to the at least one group; creating agroup assignment matrix based on the categories of advertisements, thegroup categories and the group assignments; storing the group assignmentmatrix in each television terminal; and comparing the switching plan tothe group assignment matrix to determine a channel to tune for receivingone of the default advertisement and the at least one alternateadvertisement.
 11. The method of claim 10, further comprising generatingthe switching plan, comprising: assigning the default advertisement to aprogram channel; assigning alternate advertisements to at least onefeeder channel; assigning a group to each of the program channel and theat least one feeder channel; and creating a group mask assignment,wherein the group mask assignment is used by the television terminal tocompare the switching plan to the group assignment matrix.
 12. Themethod of claim 11, wherein assigning the program channel and the atleast one feeder channel comprises: ranking each of a plurality ofprograms based on categories of targeted advertisements and a firstpercentage of total viewers who view each of the plurality of programs;ranking a plurality of targeted advertisements based on a secondpercentage of total viewers; determining, for each of the plurality ofprograms and each of the targeting categories, targeted advertisementswith overall highest rankings, based on the first and the secondpercentages; assigning targeted advertisements with the overall highestrankings to be displayed on first program channels; assigning targetedadvertisements with lower overall rankings to be displayed on secondprogram channels; and assigning alternate targeted advertisements to bedisplayed on one or more feeder channels, each of the one or more feederchannels associated with a corresponding one of the second programchannels.
 13. The method of claim 10, wherein the television terminal isa set top terminal.
 14. The method of claim 10, wherein the televisionterminal is incorporated into the television.
 15. The method of claim10, wherein the television terminal is coupled to a satellite televisionreceiver.
 16. The method of claim 10, further comprising: at eachtelevision terminal, recording in a memory an identification of achannel selected during the program break; providing the identificationto a remote site; and deleting the identification from the memory. 17.The method of claim 10, wherein the switching plan is provided with thetransmission of the program and periodically to the televisionterminals, the television terminals storing the switching plan in amemory.
 18. A method of targeting advertisements to a plurality oftelevision terminals, comprising: creating a package of targetedadvertisements; providing the package to each of the plurality oftelevision terminals, the television terminals storing the package in amemory; generating a group assignment matrix; providing the groupassignment matrix to each of the television terminals, the televisionterminals storing the group assignment matrix in the memory; generatinga switching plan; providing the switching plan to each of the pluralityof television terminals, the television terminals storing the switchingplan in the memory; broadcasting a program to the plurality oftelevision terminals, the program including at least one program break;and switching a television terminal receiving the program to one of aplurality channels during the at least one program break, each of theplurality of channels carrying a different advertisement selected fromthe package of targeted advertisements.
 19. The method of claim 18,wherein switching the television terminal comprises: comparing the groupassignment matrix to the switching plan; and selecting a channel basedon the comparison.
 20. The method of claim 18, further comprising:storing in the memory an identification of a channel switched to duringthe program break; providing the identification to a remote site; anddeleting the identification from the memory.
 21. The method of claim 18,wherein the program break contains a plurality of pods; the switchingplan instructing a television terminal to tune to a separate channel foreach of the plurality of pods.
 22. A method for assigning targetedadvertisements to multiple broadcast channels, wherein the multiplebroadcast channels include a program channel for each of a plurality ofprograms to be broadcast and at least one feeder channel, comprising:identifying the plurality of programs to carry the targetedadvertisements; assigning the targeted advertisements to targetcategories; dividing each target category into groups of viewers;ranking each of the plurality of programs based on the target categoriesand a first percentage of total viewers in each group of viewers;ranking the targeted advertisements based on a second percentage oftotal viewers in each group of viewers; determining, for each of theplurality of programs and each of the targeting categories, targetedadvertisements with overall highest rankings, based on the first and thesecond percentages; assigning targeted advertisements with the overallhighest rankings to be displayed on first program channels; assigningtargeted advertisements with lower overall rankings to be displayed onsecond program channels; and assigning alternate targeted advertisementsto be displayed on one or more feeder channels, each of the one or morefeeder channels associated with a corresponding one of the secondprogram channels.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein the firstpercentage of total viewers is based on programs watched data collectedfrom television terminals capable of receiving the broadcast pluralityof programs.
 24. The method of claim 18, wherein the switching plan andthe group assignment matrix are provided to a television terminal overan Internet.
 25. The method of claim 18, wherein the package of targetedadvertisements are provided to a television terminal over an Internet.26. A method for targeting advertisements to a plurality of televisionterminals, comprising: generating a package of targeted advertisements;from the package of targeted advertisements, assigning at least oneprimary advertisement to a program; from the package of targetedadvertisements, assigning at least one alternate advertisement theprogram; providing the package of targeted advertisements to theplurality of television terminals, each of the plurality of televisionterminals storing the package in a memory; assigning each of theplurality of television terminals to at least one group; generating aswitching plan, wherein the switching plan instructs each of theplurality of television terminals to select one of the primaryadvertisement and the at least one alternate advertisement from thememory during a program break occurring in a broadcast of a program on aprogram channel, based on the group assignment.